ITT575 - Wireless and Mobile

Computing
Chapter 3
802.
802.11 Wireless LANs

Mohd Faisal Ibrahim

Faculty of Computer and Mathematical
Sciences, UiTM, Shah Alam

Contents

1 Overview of Wireless Networking Topologies

2 IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Mechanisms

23 Future
Mobile Works
ad hoc Networks (MANET)

1
Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this chapter, you should be

able to:-
to:-
• Describe the four major types of wireless topologies (WWAN, WLAN,
WPAN, and WMAN).
• Explain the differences or similarities of SSID, BSSID, and ESSID and
their functions.
• Define and understand technical terms related to CSMA/CA, DCF.
Acknowledgement Frame, Hidden Node Problem, RTS/CTS.
• Describe basic operation and key component of MANET.

What Have We Learned So Far

Frequency Hopping

LAN Notebook
Direct Sequence AP

2
What Are We Going to Learn Today

Notebook Notebook

• Who should be the first to

communicate?
• How long should I wait?
LAN • Is there any mechanism to
control the conversation?
AP

Notebook Notebook

Topology

• Physical or logical layout of the network

3
Wireless Networking Topologies

• Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN)

• Wireless Metropolitan Area Network
(WMAN)
• Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN)
• Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)

Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN)

• Covers larger geographic area

– As compared to 802.11 WLAN
– Networks with ten’s of miles of coverage
• Usually cellular phone providers or
proprietary solutions
– Cellular, T-Mobile, Verizon
– GPRS, CDMA, TDMA, GSM technologies

4
Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN)

• Coverage to a city and suburbs

• Networks with miles of coverage
• 802.16 is a new player
– WiMAX
• Can provide “the last mile” coverage

Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN)

• Networks with feet (meters) of coverage
– Between Laptops
– Between PDAs
– Between wireless phones
– Headsets
• Bluetooth and Zigbee

5
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)
• Networks with hundred’s of feet of
coverage
• Provides end user access to LANs
• Coverage for buildings and campuses
• Great fit for 802.11 technology
• 802.11 WLAN provides balance of:
– Performance
– Cost
– Availability
– Technology evolution

Wireless LAN Standards

802.11b (Old – 1990s)
• Standard for 2.4GHz ISM band (80 MHz)
• Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)
• Speeds of 11 Mbps, approx. 500 ft range
802.11a/g (Middle Age– mid-late 1990s)
• Standard for 5GHz NII band (300 MHz)
• OFDM in 20 MHz with adaptive rate/codes
• Speeds of 54 Mbps, approx. 100-200 ft range
802.11n (Released in Oct 2009)
• Standard in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHzband
• Adaptive OFDM /MIMO in 20/40 MHz (2-4 antennas)
• Speeds up to 600Mbps, approx. 200 ft range
• Other advances in packetization, antenna use, etc.

6
IEEE 802.11 Topologies
• The purpose of 802.11 is to interconnect radio cards
• Every wireless device has a radio card
• All wireless devices are referred to as Stations (STA)
• Three topologies defined by 802.11 – Service Sets
– Basic Service Set (BSS)
– Extended Service Set (ESS)
– Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS)
• Nonstandard Topologies
– Bridging, Repeating, Workgroup bridging
– Mesh networking (growing in importance)

Pejman Roshan Jonathan Leary

ISBN: 1587050773

Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS/Ad Hoc)

• Radio cards that make up an IBSS are only client stations
– No AP
• Can have multiple client stations linked together
– Ad-hoc communications
– Peer to Peer network
• Frames transmitted directly between stations
• All stations must use same channel
• Must have same SSID
• BSSID must be chosen
– First station that starts network
generates the SSID

7
Basic Service Set (BSS)
• Single AP with one or more client stations
• AP connects to DS
• Stations that are members of the BSS are associated
– Created a layer 2 connection
• Stations do not communicate with each other
– Must go through AP

Extended Service Set (ESS)

• One or more BSS connected through the distribution system
(DS) or also known as layer 2 “backbone network”.
• Generally multiple APs and clients stations united by a single
distribution system medium (Stations are “associated” with only
one AP at a time).
• Often set up with multiple overlapping coverage cells
– 15 to 25 % overlap to support roaming

8
Extended Service Set (ESS)
• ESS - is comprised of a number BSS’s
• ESS stations must have the same SSID
• The BSSID is the “name” of the BSS (not same as SSID)
• APs can be positioned so that cells overlap to facilitate
roaming
– Wireless devices choose AP based on signal strength
– Stations going from one BSS to another will deal with Handoff

ESS
Wired LAN SSID

BSS2
(BSSID2)

BSS3
BSS1 (BSSID3)
(BSSID1)

Service Set Identifier (SSID)

• Logical name to identify the wireless network

– Like a workgroup name
• SSID is used to let radio cards find networks
– Active and Passive scanning
• SSID is configured on APs
and Client Stations
– 32 characters
– Case sensitive
• SSID hiding is weak
security

9
Medium Access Control

• Protocol required to coordinate access

– I.E. transmitters must take turns

• Similar to talking in a crowded room

• Also similar to hub based Ethernet

Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)

• Procedure
– Listen to medium and wait until it is free (no
one else is talking)
– Wait a random back off time then start talking
• Advantages
– Fairly simple to implement
– Functional scheme that works
• Disadvantages
– Cannot recover from a collision
(inefficient waste of medium time)

10
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with
Collision Detection (CSMA-CD)
• Procedure
– Listen to medium and wait until it is free
– Then start talking, but listen to see if someone else starts talking
too
– If a collision occurs, stop and then start talking after a random
back off time
• This scheme is used for hub based Ethernet
• Advantages
– More efficient than basic CSMA
• Disadvantages
– Requires ability to detect collisions

CSMA/CD
• Carrier Sense - Devices sense the carrier
(cable) to see if it is clear
• Multiple Access - Many devices access the
carrier (cable) at the same time
• Collision Detection - Detect if a collision occurs
by monitoring the carrier (voltage on the cable)

Note: Wired Ethernet uses CSMA/CD

11
CSMA/CD (Continued)
• Can we borrow media access methods
from fixed networks?
• Problems in wireless networks
– a radio cannot usually transmit and receive at the
same time
– signal strength decreases proportionally to the square
of the distance or even more
– the sender would apply CS and CD, but the collisions
happen at the receiver
– it might be the case that a sender cannot “hear” the
collision, i.e., CD does not work
– furthermore, CS might not work if, e.g., a terminal is
“hidden”

Why CSMA/CD is unfit for WLANs

Collision Detection requires simultaneous
transmission and reception operations (which a radio
transceiver is usually unable to do) detecting a
collision is difficult
Carrier Sensing may be suitable to reduce
interference at sender, but Collision Avoidance is
needed at receiver
CSMA/CD does not address the hidden terminal
problem

Reserve for Assignment:

12
Collision Detection Problem in 802.11
• Transmit signal is MUCH stronger than received
signal
• Due to high path loss in the wireless
environment (up to 100dB)
• Impossible to “listen” while transmitting because
you will drown out anything you hear
• Also transmitter may not even have much of a
signal to detect due to geometry

CSMA/CA
• Carrier Sense - Devices sense the carrier to see
if it is clear
• Multiple Access - Many devices access the
carrier at the same time
• Collision Avoidance - The sender before
transmitting contacts the receiver and ask for an
acknowledgement – if not received the request
is repeated after a random time interval

13
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with
Collision Avoidance (CSMA-CA)

• Procedure
– Similar to CSMA but instead of sending
packets control frames are exchanged
– RTS = request to send
– CTS = clear to send
– DATA = actual packet
– ACK = acknowledgement

Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision

Avoidance (CSMA-CA)
• Advantages
– Small control frames lessen the cost of
collisions (when data is large)
– RTS + CTS provide “virtual” carrier sense
which protects against hidden terminal
collisions (where A can’t hear B)

A B

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Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision
Avoidance (CSMA-CA)

• Disadvantages
– Not as efficient as CSMA-CD
– Doesn’t solve all the problems of MAC in
wireless networks (more to come)

Access Methods in 802.11

– DCF CSMA/CA (mandatory)
– DCF with RTS/CTS (optional)
• avoids hidden terminal problem

– PCF (optional)
• access point polls terminals according to a list

IEEE802.11 MAC
Architecture

15
Access Methods in 802.11

– DCF CSMA/CA (mandatory)

– DCF
– Carrier sense
– Acknowledgment frames

Distributed Coordination Function (DCF)

Two forms of carrier sensing: Physical
(by listening to the wireless shared
medium) and Virtual
Virtual carrier sensing uses the
duration field to set a station’s NAV
which is included in the header of RTS
and CTS frames
If medium found idle for more than a
DIFS period, then the frame can be
transmitted
Otherwise, the transmission is deferred
and the station uses an Exponential
Random Backoff Mechanism by
choosing a random backoff interval
from [0, CW]
If collision occurs, the station doubles
its CW (Contention Window)
At the first transmission attempt, CW =
CW min and is doubled at each
retransmission up to CW max
DIFS – Distributed InterFrame Space

16
DCF CSMA/CA - Carrier Sense
• In IEEE 802.11, carrier sensing is performed
– at the air interface (physical carrier sensing), and
– at the MAC layer (virtual carrier sensing)
• Physical carrier sensing
– detects presence of other users by analyzing all detected packets
– Detects activity in the channel via relative signal strength from other
sources
• Virtual carrier sensing is done by sending MPDU duration
information in the header of RTS/CTS and data frames
• Channel is busy if either mechanisms indicate it to be
– at the air interface (physical carrier sensing), and
– Duration field indicates the amount of time (in microseconds) required
to complete frame transmission
– Stations in the BSS use the information in the duration field to adjust
their network allocation vector (NAV)

DCF CSMA/CA - Carrier Sense

• A station that wants to transmit must
sense whether the medium is in use.
• If the medium is in use, the station must
defer frame transmission until the
medium is not in use.
• The station determines the state of the
medium using two methods:
– Check the Layer 1 physical layer (PHY) to see
whether a carrier is present.
– Use the virtual carrier-sense function, the
network allocation vector (NAV). The NAV Update Process

Example
• Suppose Martha is sending a frame to George.
• Vivian also receives frame with NAV = 10ms.
– does not attempt transmission until the NAV has decremented to 0.

Note: Stations only update NAV when the duration field value received greater than what is currently stored in their NAV.

17
DCF CSMA/CA - Distributed Coordination Function (DCF)
• Transmitting station must wait a specific amount of time after the medium becomes
available.
• This time value is known as the DCF Interframe Space (DIFS).
• Once the DIFS interval elapses, the medium becomes available for station access
contention.
Example (Continued)
• Vivian and George might want to transmit frames when Martha's transmission is
complete.
– Both stations should have the same NAV values, and both will physically sense when the medium is idle.
– There is a high probability that both stations will attempt to transmit when the medium becomes idle,
causing a collision.
• To avoid this situation, DCF uses a random backoff timer.
– The random backoff algorithm randomly selects a value from 0 to the contention window (CW) value.
• Vivian ready to transmit.
– Her NAV timer has decremented to 0, and the PHY also indicates the medium is idle.
– Vivian selects a random backoff time (in this case, CW is 7) and waits the selected number of slot times
before transmitting.
• After four slot times pass, Vivian can transmit. Random Backoff
• But what if George's station has a random backoff time of two time slots? with DCF Medium Access
– Vivian updates her NAV with that new value.
– Vivian must wait for her NAV to decrement to 0 and her PHY to report that the medium is available again
before she can resume her backoff. (In this example, Vivian must wait an additional two slot times before
attempting to transmit)

DCF CSMA/CA - Distributed Coordination Function (DCF)

• Assuming that Vivian is able to postpone transmission for all

four slot times, she transmits the data frame.
• QUESTION? How does Vivian know that the data frame
reaches its destination?
• ANSWER? By the receiving station sending ACK frame.
– ACK frame allows the sending station to indirectly determine whether a collision
took place or not.
– If ACK is not received, it assumes that a collision occurred on the medium.
– The sending station updates its retry counters, doubles the CW value, and
begins the medium access process again.

DCF Medium
Access Process

18
DCF CSMA/CA - Acknowledgment Frame
• Why it is needed? A packet might get lost during transmission.
• Introduced by 802.11 to make sure that data transmissions would not get
lost .
• How does it works?
– When a destination host receives a packet, it sends back a notification to the
sending unit.
– If the sender does not receive an ACK, it will know that this packet was not
received and will transmit it again.
• All this takes place at the MAC layer.
• What happen if an ACK has not been received?
– The sending unit will grab the radio medium before any other unit can and it
resends the packet.
– This allows recovery from interference without the end user being aware that a
communications error has occurred. HOW?
ACK frames are allowed to skip the random backoff process and wait a short interval
after the frame has been received to transmit the acknowledgment.
The short interval the receiving station waits is known as the short interframe space
(SIFS) .
The SIFS interval is shorter than a DIFS interval by two slot times.
It guarantees the receiving station the best possible chance of transmitting on the
medium before another station does.

Access Methods in 802.11

– DCF with RTS/CTS (optional)

• avoids hidden terminal problem

Labu Labi

19
Dealing with Hidden Terminals
• CSMA/CA works when every station can receive
transmissions from every other station
• Not always true
• Hidden terminal
– some stations in an area cannot hear
transmissions from others
• Exposed terminal
– some (but not all) stations can hear
transmissions from stations not in the local
area

Hidden Node Problem

Workstation A
Signal Diameter

Workstation B
Signal Diameter
A C
Workstation C
Signal Diameter
B

• A can send and receive directly from B.

• However, A does not have the signal strength to send or
receive any data directly from C.
• As a result, A could not tell if there was a collision at B traffic
and vice versa.

20
Hidden Node Problem (Continued)
• A and C cannot hear each other.
• A sends to B, C cannot receive A.
• C wants to send to B, C senses a “free”
medium (CS fails)
• Collision occurs at B.
• A cannot receive the collision (CD fails).
• A is “hidden” for C.

A C

Exposed Terminal Problem

A C D

– A starts sending to B.
– C senses carrier, finds medium in use and has
to wait for A->B to end.
– D is outside the range of A, therefore waiting
is not necessary.

21
Solution for Hidden & Exposed Terminals
• C first sends a Request-to-Send (RTS) to B Note: IFS = Interframe Space (IFS)

• On receiving RTS, B responds Clear-to-Send

(CTS)
• Hidden node A overhears CTS and keeps
quiet
– Transfer duration is included in both RTS and CTS
• Exposed node D overhears a RTS but not the
CTS
– Will keep quiet for the duration of the transfer

RTS RTS
A CTS CTS C D

B DATA
ACK

Mechanisms for CA
• Use of Request-To-Send (RTS) and Confirm-to-Send
(CTS) mechanism
– When a station wants to send a packet, it first sends an RTS.
The receiving station responds with a CTS. Stations that can
hear the RTS or the CTS then mark that the medium will be busy
for the duration of the request (indicated by Duration ID in the
RTS and CTS)
– Stations will adjust their Network Allocation Vector (NAV): time
that must elapse before a station can sample channel for idle
status
• this is called virtual carrier sensing
– RTS/CTS are smaller than long packets that can collide
• Use of InterFrame Spaces (IFS)

22
802.11 – RTS/CTS

Sender C transmits the DATA after SIFS

period as the channel is reserved for itself
during all the frame duration

Sender C has to wait for DIFS

before sending RTS

Receiver B then sends CTS, Receivers B acknowledge at

after a SIFS, to sender C once (after waiting for SIFS) if
the packet was received
correctly (CRC)

SIFS – Short InterFrame Space

DIFS – Distributed InterFrame Space

The IEEE 802.11e MAC Protocol

To effectively support QoS, the 802.11e MAC defines the Hybrid
Coordination Function (HCF) that replaces DCF and PCF modes in IEEE
802.11 standard
Two parts: the Extended Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) and the
HCF Controlled Channel Access (HCCA)
MSDUs are now delivered through multiple backoff instances within one
station, wherein each backoff instance parameterized with Traffic
Categories-specific parameters

Multiple parallel backoffs of MSDUs with different priorities

23
802.11 - Priorities

• defined through different inter frame spaces –

mandatory idle time intervals between the
transmission of frames
• SIFS (Short Inter Frame Spacing)
– highest priority, for ACK, CTS, polling
response
– SIFSTime and SlotTime are fixed per PHY
layer
– (10 µs and 20 µs respectively in DSSS)

802.11 – Priorities (Continued)

• PIFS (PCF IFS)
– medium priority, for time-bounded service
using PCF
– PIFSTime = SIFSTime + SlotTime
• DIFS (DCF IFS)
– lowest priority, for asynchronous data service
– DCF-IFS (DIFS): DIFSTime = SIFSTime +
2xSlotTime

24
IEEE802.11 Access Timing Interval
Five time intervals
The slot time, defined in
the PHY layer
The short interframe space
(SIFS) defined by the PHY
layer
The priority interframe
space (PIFS)
The distributed interframe
space (DIFS)
The extended interframe
space (EIFS). Used by a
station to set its NAV when
it receives a frame
containing errors, allowing
the possibility for the
ongoing MAC frame
exchange to complete
before another
transmission attempt.

IEEE802.11 Access Priority

25
Access Methods in 802.11
– PCF (optional)
• access point polls terminals according to a list

DCF CSMA/CA - Point Coordination Function (PCF)

PCF employs a poll and
response protocol so as to
eliminate the possibility of
contention for the medium
A point coordinator (PC)
controls the medium access
and is often co-located with the
AP
PC maintains a polling list, and
regularly polls the stations for
traffic while also delivering
traffic to the stations
PCF is built over the DCF, and
both of them operate
simultaneously
PC begins a period of
operation called the
contention-free period (CFP)
CFP occurs periodically to
provide a near-isochronous
service to the station
CFP begins when the PC
gains access to the medium,
by using the normal DCF
procedures
During the CFP, the PC
ensures that the interval
between transmissions to be The MAC control logic
no longer than PIFS

26
How CSMA/CA Works
• CSMA/CA components
– Carrier sense
– DCF
– Acknowledgment frames
– Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS) medium
reservation
– Frame fragmentation
– Point coordination function (PCF)

not directly tied

to CSMA/CA

Fragmentation
• Frame fragmentation is a MAC layer function that is
designed to increase the reliability of frame transmission
across the wireless medium.
• A frame is broken up into smaller fragments and transmitted
individually.
• WHY? If any fragment of the frame encounters any errors or
a collision, only the fragment needs to be retransmitted, not
the entire frame.

DIFS
RTS frag1 frag2
sender
SIFS SIFS SIFS
CTS SIFS ACK1 SIFS ACK2
receiver

NAV (RTS)
NAV (CTS)
NAV (frag1) DIFS
other NAV (ACK1) data
stations t
contention

27
Frame Fragmentation Process

• Each fragmented frame has a MAC header, FCS, and a fragment number to indicate
position order in the MSDU (MAC Service Data Unit).
• Each fragment is sent independently and requires a separate Acknowledgement (ACK)
from the receiving station.
• The receiving station will combine the fragments in the same order based on the fragment
number.
• Although frame fragmentation helps to improve frame error rate, it does however increases
the MAC overhead due to a greater number of ACK frames being sent and also the MAC
header and CRC being incurred on every fragmented frames.

Fragmentation

Fragmentation Setup on Mini-PCI card MPI350 Wireless Adapters

350 Series Mini

Mini--PCI

28
Cisco Aironet 350 Client Adapters
• PCMCIA card for Laptops and PDAs
• PCI adapter for Desktops
• Mini-PCI for embedded applications
• Driver Support
–Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP
–Windows CE 2.11, 3.0 (Pocket PC)
–Linux
–Mac OS 9, X
• Utilities include user configuration and site survey tool for simple
installation and upgrade
• Workgroup Bridge

IEEE 802.11 MAC Layer

MAC protocol is the arbitration of accesses to a shared medium among several
end systems
IEEE 802.11 specifies two medium access control protocols, Point Coordination
Function (PCF) and Distributed Coordination Function (DCF)
DCF is a fully distributed scheme which enables the ad hoc networking
capabilities, whereas PCF is an optional centralized scheme built on top of the
basic access method

29
Past Year Question
JAN 2013 (Part A)
• Briefly describe the following terms:
Basic Service Set (BSS) (2 Marks)
A topologies defined by 802.11 that requires an AP to
connect with one or more client stations.

JAN 2013 (Part B)

• How do IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth, respectively,
solve the hidden terminal problem? (5 Marks)
802.11 uses the MACA mechanism sending RTS/CTS to solve the
hidden terminal problem.

Past Year Question

JAN 2013 (Part A)
• Briefly describe the following terms:
Network Allocation Vector (NAV) (2 Marks)
Indicates the amount of time that must elapse until the
current transmission session is complete and the channel
can be sampled again for idle status.

JAN 2013 (Part B)

• How do IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth, respectively,
solve the hidden terminal problem? (5 Marks)
802.11 uses the MACA mechanism sending RTS/CTS to solve the
hidden terminal problem.

30
Past Year Question
JUL 2013 (Part B)
• Access points (APs) are typically used to connect a wireless LAN to a
wired LAN infrastructure. The 802.11 protocol used to communicate
between a wireless node and an AP uses Request-to-Send (RTS) and
Clear-to-Send (CTS) frames as well as acknowledgments of frames.
Why does the 802.11 protocol use these frames when the 802.3
(Ethernet) protocol does not?
To solve Hidden terminal problem (1 pt) and Exposed Terminal problem.
Using RTS and CTS eliminates both problems. The station wishing to
transmit sends an RTS frame that includes information about the receiving
station and the length of time required to transmit. Any other station within
range hears the RTS and knows the medium is going to be in use for the
time specified. The receiving station receives the RTS and when ready to
receive the transmission sends a CTS frame that also includes the
transmission time. In this case any station with the receiving stations area
then knows the medium will be in use for the specified time. In this way all
stations that overlap with either the sender or the receiver will not transmit
until the specified time has passed allow the transmission to complete
without error.

Past Year Question

JUL 2013 (Part B)
• Suppose that a station has selected its backof time B
in DCF (Distributed Coordinated Function) mode of
IEEE 802.11, and channel became busy after initial
DIFS period. Explain how the station can decrement B
and when it can be allowed to transmit?
Station will decrement B each time it observes an idle time
spot (no messages). It will retransmit in the next slot after B
becomes 0.

31
Wireless Networks
Wireless networks can be divided in two
fundamental categories:
Infrastructure-based
• Use fixed base stations (infrastructure) which are responsible for
coordinating communication between the mobile hosts (nodes).
• For example, cellular networks are infrastructure-based networks built from
PSTN backbone switches, MSCs, base stations, and mobile hosts.
• Each node has its strict specific responsibility in the network. WLANs
typically also fall into this category.

Infrastructure-less (Ad Hoc)

• Consists of mobile nodes which communicate with each other through
wireless medium without any fixed infrastructure.
• For example, two PCs equipped with wireless adapter cards can set up an
independent network whenever they are within range of one another.

Wireless Networks

An Ad-hoc network
An infrastructure wireless
network

32
When do we need Ad Hoc Networks
• No infrastructure is available? –E.g., in disaster
areas
• It is too expensive/inconvenient to set up? –E.g.,
in remote, large construction sites
• There is no time to set it up? –E.g., in military
operations

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks MANET

• Try to construct a network without infrastructure,
using networking abilities of the participants
This is a mobile ad hoc network –a network constructed “for a
special purpose”
• Simplest example: Laptops in a conference room
– a single-hop ad hoc network

33
Ad Hoc Networks
• An Ad-hoc network is a local area network or
some other small network, especially one with
wireless (or temporary plug in connections), in
which some of the network devices are the part of
the network only for the duration of a
communications session.
• Allows new network devices to be quickly added.
• Each user has a unique network address that is
recognized as the part of the network.

Possible Applications for Infrastructure-less Networks

• Factory floor • Disaster • Car-to-car

automation recovery communication

• Military networking – Network Centric

Warfare
• Finding out empty parking lots in a
city, without asking a server
• Search-and-rescue

34
Problems/Challenges for Ad Hoc Networks
• Without a central infrastructure, things become much more difficult
• Problems are due to
Lack of central entity for organization available
Without a central entity (like a base station), participants must organize
themselves into a network (self-organization)
Pertains to (among others):
Medium access control –no base station can assign transmission resources, must be
decided in a distributed fashion
Finding a route from one participant to another
Limited range of wireless communication
For many scenarios, communication with peers outside immediate
communication range is required
Direct communication limited because of distance, obstacles
Mobility of participants
In many (not all!) ad hoc network applications, participants move around
Direct communication limited because of distance, obstacles
Battery-operated entities
In many (not all!) ad hoc network applications, participants move around
Energy-efficient networking protocols
E.g., use multi-hop routes with low energy consumption (energy/bit)
•E.g., take available battery capacity of devices into account

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET)

• Do not need backbone infrastructure
support
• Are easy to deploy
• Useful when infrastructure is absent,
destroyed or impractical
• Infrastructure may not be present in a
disaster area or war zone

35
Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET)
• Host movement frequent
• Topology change frequent

B
A B A

• No cellular infrastructure. Multi-hop wireless

links.
• Data must be routed via intermediate nodes.

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET)

• May need to traverse multiple links to reach
destination

• Mobility causes route changes

36
MANETs Routing Protocols
• Ad-hoc Networks require efficient routing protocols
because determining successful routing paths and
delivering messages in a decentralized environment
where network topology fluctuates is not a well defined
problem.
• An optimal route at a certain time may not work seconds
later.
• Discussed below are three categories that existing ad-
hoc network routing protocols fall into:
– Table Driven Protocols
– On Demand Protocols
– Hybrid Protocols

MANETs Routing Protocols

Ad-hoc Mobile Routing Protocols

Table Driven Protocols On Demand Protocols

Hybrid
DSDV, WRP, ABR, DSR,
Protocols
STAR AODV, TORA

ZRP

37
Table Driven Routing Protocol
• Also known as Pro-active routing protocols/algorithms
• Requires each node to maintain one or more tables to
store routing information.
• Each node uses routing information to store the location
information of other nodes in the network and this
information is then used to move data among different
nodes in the network.
• Have lower latency since routes are maintained at all
times
• Disadvantages
– Respective amount of data for maintenance
– Slow reaction on restructuring and failures

On Demand Routing Protocols

• Establish routes only when required to route data
packets.
• On demand route discovery by flooding the network
with Route Request packets
• Have longer transmission delays
• Disadvantages
– High latency time in route finding
– Flooding can lead to network clogging

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Hybrid Routing Protocols
• Combine proactive and reactive protocols to try and
exploit their strengths.
• Divide the network into zones, and use one protocol
within the zone, and another between them.

AODV - Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector Protocol

• AODV is an on-demand routing algorithm in that it determines a
route to a destination only when a node wants to send a packet
to that destination
• It is a relative of the Bellman-Ford distant vector algorithm, but
is adapted to work in a mobile environment
• Routes are maintained as long as they are needed by the
source. AODV is capable of both unicast and multicast routing
• In AODV, every node maintains a table, containing information
about which neighbor to send the packets to in order to reach
the destination
• Sequence numbers, which is one of the key features of AODV,
ensures the freshness of routes
• Route Discovery Mechanism is initiated when a route to new
destination is needed by broadcasting a Route Request Packet
(RREQ).
• Route Error Packets (RERR) are used to erase broken links

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AODV (Continued)
The source broadcasts a route packet
The neighbors in turn broadcast
source RREQ the packet till it reaches the
destination

destination

RREP
Reply packet follows
the reverse path of
route request packet
recorded in broadcast
packet

The node discards the packets that has

the same <src_addr, broadcast_id> with
a previous RREQ

AODV - Path Discovery

Initiated when a source node needs to communicate
with another node for which it has no routing info

Every node maintains two counters:

node_sequence_number
broadcast_id

The source node broadcast to the neighbors a route

request packet (called RREQ)

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AODV - Path Discovery
RREQ structure
<src_addr, src_sequence_#, broadcast_id, dest_addr,
dest_sequence_#, hop_cnt>
src_addr and broadcast_id uniquely identifies a RREQ

broadcast_id is incremented whenever source node

issues a RREQ

Each neighbor either satisfy the RREQ, by sending back

a routing reply (RREP), or rebroadcast the RREQ to its
own neighbors after increasing the hop_count by one.

AODV - Path Discovery

If a node receives a RREQ that has the same
<src_addr, broadcast_id> with a previous RREQ it
drops it immediately

If a node cannot satisfy the RREQ, stores:

Destination IP
Source IP
broadcast_id
Expiration time (used for reverse path process)
src_sequence_#

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AODV - Path Discovery
1. Reverse Path Setup

In each RREQ there are:

src_sequence_#
the last dest_sequence_#

src_sequence_# used to maintain freshness

information about the reverse route to the source

dest_sequnece_# indicates how fresh a route must

be, before it can be accepted by the source

AODV - Path Discovery

1.Reverse Path Setup (continue)

As RREQ travels from source to many destinations, it

automatically sets up the reverse path, from all nodes
back to the source.

But how does it work?

Each node records the address of the neighbor from which it
received the first copy of the RREQ

These entries are maintained for at least enough time, for the
RREQ to traverse the network and produce a reply

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AODV - Route Discovery

AODV - Route Discovery

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AODV - Route Discovery

AODV - Path Maintenance

Movement of nodes not lying along an active path does NOT
affect the route to that path's destination

If the source node moves, it can simply re-initiate the route

discovery procedure

If the destination or some intermediate node moves, a

special RREP is sent to the affected nodes

To find out nodes movements periodic hello messages can be

used, or (LLACKS) link-layer acknowledgments (far less
latency)

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AODV - Route Maintenance

AODV - Route Maintenance

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AODV - Control Messages
Three message types are defined by AODV:

RREQ
When a route is not available for the desired destination, a
route request packet is flooded (broadcast) throughout the
network.

RREP
It a node either is, or has a valid route to, the destination, it
unicasts a route reply message back to the source.

RERR
When a path breaks, the nodes on both sides of the links
issues a route error to inform their end nodes of the link
break.

AODV - General info

Nodes that have not participate yet in any packet
exchange (inactive nodes), they do not maintain routing
information
They do not participate in any periodic routing table
exchanges
Each node can become aware of other nodes in its
neighborhood by using local broadcasts known as hello
messages
neighbor routing tables organized to :
1. optimize response time to local movements
2. provide quick response time for new routes
requests

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AODV - Local Connectivity Maintenance

Nodes learn of their neighbors in one or two ways:

1. Whenever a node receives a broadcast from a

neighbor it update its local connectivity information
about this neighbor

2. If a neighbor has not sent any packets within

hello_interval it broadcasts a hello message,
containing its identity and its sequence number

AODV - Main Features

Broadcast route discovery mechanism
Nodes store only the routes they need
Quick response to link breakage in active
routes
Loop-free routes maintained by use of
destination sequence numbers
Scalable to large populations of nodes
Bandwidth efficiently (small header
information)
Responsive to changes in network
topology

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Past Year Question
JAN 2013 (Part A)
• State 5 challenges of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks.
Lack of central entity for organization available
Finding a route from one participant to another
Limited range of wireless communication
Effect to topological changes
Power Consciousness
Frequency of updates (Overhead)

Past Year Question

JAN 2013 (Part A)
• Compare Table Driven Routing Protocol and On-
Demand Routing Protocol with respect to route
discovery, periodic route updates and latency.

Parameters Table Driven On-Demand

Route A routing is always Has to wait until a
Discovery available, regardless desired route is
whether or not it is discovered
needed
Periodic Route Not required Required
Updates
Latency Low High

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Past Year Question
JUL 2013 (Part B)
• By using the following diagram
(Figure 1), explain the
processes involve in the route
discovery process in the AODV
protocol. Assuming that N1
(node 1) is trying to find a route
to N6 (node 6). You must relate
your answer with Route
Request Messages (RREQ)
and Route Reply Messages
(RREP).

Past Year Question

• Node 1 start sending Route Request Messages (RREQ) in broadcast. These messages have
an ID of the route query, the source and destination, and the maximum lifespan of the request.
• When node 2 and 3 receive the RREQ message, they check if they have already received a
RREQ query with that same Source and ID. As it is not the case of node 2 or 3, they
rebroadcast the RREQ.
• When node 2 and 3 rebroadcast the RREQ, node 1, 4 and 5 receive that message. Node one,
as it already knows that id/source simply ignores it. Node 4 and 5 are in the situation where it
is the first time they receive a message with that source and id. So they rebroadcast the
RREQ.
• Nodes that have already received that RREQ, once again ignore it. Node 6, the destination,
receives the RREQ. It is now time to make the inverse path using Route Reply Messages
(RREP). This is done by looking at the temporary routing information tables that show the
various hops performed to reaching the destination.
• Node 4 upon receiving the RREP creates a new route entry, where he indicates that to
messages with destination node 6, the next node he sends message is node 6 (because it is
in his range). He then sends the RREP to the previous node present in his temporary routing
information, node 2.
• Node 2 upon receiving the RREP creates a new route entry, where he indicates that to
messages with destination node 6, the next node he sends message is node 4. He then sends
the RREP to the previous node present in his temporary routing information, node 1.
• Node 1 upon receiving the RREP creates a new route entry, where he indicates that to
messages with destination node 6, the next node he sends message is node 2. As he is the
source the process ends here.

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Thank You!

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