Low Speed – Wireless

Local Area Networks

Dr. Martin Hope CEng MIEE

m.d.hope@salford.ac.uk

Newton 262
 WLAN Applications
Almost nonexistent until 2000, WLANs have
experienced astonishing growth

WLANs have broad range of uses including

colleges and schools, businesses, airports,
warehouses, shopping centers, and stadiums

WLANs have taken the world by storm and the

list of users grows daily

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 How WLANs Operate
Although a variety of radio frequency WLANs
exist, different products share similarities and
operate similarly

Only two components are required for a wireless

network
 Wireless network interface (NIC) cards
 Access points (AP)

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 Access Point
An access point (AP) has three main parts
 An antenna and a radio transmitter/receiver
 An RJ-45 wired network interface to connect to a
wired network
 Special bridging software

Access point has two basic functions

 Acts as base station for wireless network
 Acts as bridge between wireless and wired network

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Access Point as a Bridge

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 Characteristics of an Access
Point
Range approximately 375 feet (115 meters)

Generally supports over 100 users

 One access point for each 50 users with light email and

basic Internet access

 One access point per 20 users for heavy network

access and large file transfer

APs typically mounted on ceiling, but AC power may be a

problem
 Power over Ethernet feature delivers DC power through

standard unshielded twisted pair (UTP) Ethernet cable

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 Ad Hoc Mode
Ad Hoc Mode or peer-to-peer mode lets wireless
clients communicate among themselves without
an access point
 Officially called Independent Basic Services Set
(IBSS), this mode is easy to set up, but it does not
have access to a wired network
 See Figure 6-8

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Ad Hoc Mode

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 Infrastructure Mode
Infrastructure Mode, also called Basic Service
Set (BSS), has wireless clients and an access
point

More access points can be added to create an

Extended Service Set (ESS)
 See Figure 6-9

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Extended Service Set (ESS)

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 Features of Access Points
Coverage area should overlap when using
multiple access points
 Wireless clients survey radio frequencies to find an
AP that provides better service
 A seamless handoff occurs when client associates
with new AP

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ESS and Subdivided Networks
Drawback of ESS WLANs is that all wireless
clients and APs must be part of same network to
allow roaming

Network managers like to subdivide networks

into subnets, but this prevents clients from
roaming freely
 Alternative may be software that tricks network into
seeing subnets as one network

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 Wireless Gateway
Devices that follow 802.11 standard are
becoming less expensive and more popular

Wireless gateway has wireless access point,

Network Address Translator (NAT) router,
firewall, connections for DSL and cable
modems, and other features

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 IEEE 802.11
Introduced in 1990

Defines cable-free local area network with either fixed or

mobile locations that transmit at either 1 or 2 Mbps

Uses OSI model with functions of PHY and MAC layer

performing WLAN features
 See Figure 6-10

Slow bandwidth insufficient for most network applications

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WLAN features in PHY and
MAC layers

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 IEEE 802.11b
1999 amendment to 802.11 standard

Added two higher speeds: 5.5 and 11 Mbps

Called Wi-Fi

Quickly became standard for WLANs

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 Physical Layer
Physical layer that sends and receives signals
from network is divided into two parts
 See Figure 6-11

Physical Medium Dependent (PMD) sublayer defines how

data is transmitted and received
through the medium

Physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) performs

two basic functions, as seen in Figure 6-12
 Reformats data into frame PMD sublayer can transmit

 Listens to determine when data can be sent

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PHY Sublayers

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PLCP Sublayer

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 Physical Layer Convergence
Procedure Standards
Based on direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)
Reformats data from MAC layer into frame that PMD
sublayer can transmit
 See Figure 6-13

Frame has three parts

 Preamble and Header transmit at 1 Mbps
 Data portion, containing from 1 to 16,384 bits, may be sent
at faster rate

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PLCP Frame

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 Physical Medium Dependent
Standards
Frame created by PLCP passes to PMD sublayer
where binary 1’s and 0’s are translated into radio
signals for transmission

802.11b standard uses Industrial, Scientific, and

Medical (ISM) band for transmissions
 May use 14 frequencies, beginning at 2.412 GHz and
incrementing in .005 GHz steps
 See Table 6-1

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802.11b ISM Channels

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 PMD Transmissions
PMD can transmit data at 11, 5.5, 2, or 1 Mbps
 1 Mbps transmissions use two-level differential binary
phase shift key (PSK)
 2, 5.5, and 11 Mbps transmissions use four-level
phase change
 Barker code used to transmit each data bit when
transmitting at 1 or 2 Mbps
 Complementary Code Keying (CCK) used for
transmissions rates above 2 Mbps

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Medium Access Control Layer
802.11 Data Link layer has two sublayers
 Logical Link Control (LLC), used in 802.11b wireless
networks with no change from wired network
functions
 Media Access control (MAC) contains all changes
necessary for 802.11b WLANs

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 Two Kinds of Coordination
Coordination necessary among devices sharing
same RF spectrum

Two kinds of coordination

 Distributed coordination function is 802.11b standard
 Point coordination function is optional

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 Distributed Coordination
Function
Channel access methods refer to different ways
of sharing

Contention
 Computers compete for use of network
 May cause collisions that result in scrambled
messages, as seen in Figure 6-14
 Must first listen to be sure no other device is
transmitting

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Collision

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 CSMA/CD

802.3 Ethernet standard uses contention with

“listening” as channel access method
 Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision
Detection (CSMA/CD)
 After a collision, each computer waits a random
amount of time, called backoff
interval, before attempting to resend
 See Figure 6-15

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CSMA/CD

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 Distributed Coordination
Function (DCF)
802.11b wireless networks cannot use
CSMA/CD because radio signals drown out
ability to detect collisions

802.11b uses Distributed Coordination Function

(DCF) with modified procedure known as Carrier
Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance
(CSMA/CA)
 Following collision, clients wait random amount of slot
time after medium is clear
 This technique helps reduce collisions

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 Packet Acknowledgement
(ACK)
CSMA/CA also reduces collisions by using
explicit packet acknowledgement (ACK)
 Receiving client must send back to sending client an
acknowledgement packet showing that packet arrived
intact
 If ACK frame is not received by sending client, data
packet is transmitted again after random waiting time
 Figure 6-16 illustrates CSMA/CA

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CSMA/CA

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 RTS/CTS
Virtual Carrier Sensing or Request to Send/ Clear to
Send (RTS/CTS) protocol also reduces collisions
 Sending clients sends RTS frame to access point
 Access point warns all wireless clients of time to be used
for transmission and then sends requesting client a clear-
to-send (CTS) frame
 Upon receiving CTS, sending client proceeds with
transmission
 See Figure 6-17

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RTS/CTS

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 Fragmentation
Fragmentation reduces collisions by reducing time on
wireless medium
 If data frame exceeds specific length, MAC layer

divides or fragment it into several smaller frames,

giving each a fragment number
 After receiving frame, computer returns an ACK, and

next frame is then transmitted

 Receiving computer uses numbers to reassemble

fragments into one large frame

802.11 standard permits RTS/CTS and fragmentation to

be used simultaneously

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 Point Coordination Function
Polling, an orderly channel access method,
prevents collisions by requiring device to get
permission before transmitting
 Each computer is asked in sequence if it wants
to transmit, as shown in Figure 6-18

802.11b uses an optional polling function known

as Point Coordination Function (PCF)
 Beacon frame indicates how long PCF will be used
 If client has nothing to transmit, it returns a null data
frame

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Polling

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Association and Reassociation
MAC layer uses association and reassociation to make
sure client joins WLAN and stays connected

 Uses either active or passive scanning process

Passive scanning has client listen for signal containing
AP’s Service Set Identifier (SSID)
Active scanning has client send out probe frame and wait
for probe response frame from AP
 After locating AP, client sends associate request frame and
may join network after receiving frame with status code and
client ID number

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 Reassociation
Reassociation involves dropping connection with one
access point and establishing connection with another
AP
 Allows mobile clients to roam beyond coverage area of
single AP
 Allows client to find new AP if original one becomes weak
or has interference
Client scans to find new AP and sends reassociation
request frame
 New AP then sends disassociation frame to
old AP as shown in Figure 6-19

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Reassociation Process

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 Power Management
802.11b defines power management function for
WLANs in infrastructure mode where mobile
devices go into sleep mode to save battery
power
 At intervals AP sends out beacon frame with traffic
indication map (TIM) listing clients that have buffered
frames waiting at AP
 All sleeping clients change to active listening mode
and, if frames are waiting, request that frames be
forward, as seen in Figure 6-20

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Power Management

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 MAC Frame Formats
802.11b specifies three different MAC frame
formats
 Management frames—set up initial communication
between client and AP, as
seen in Figure 6-21
 Control frames—provide assistance in delivering
frame that contains data, as seen
in Figure 6-22
 Data frames—carry information to be transmitted to
destination client, as seen in Figure 6-23

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Management Frame

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Control Frame

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Data Frame

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 Interframe Spaces
802.11b defines three different interframe spaces
(IFS) or time gaps for special types of
transmissions, as shown in Table 6-2
 Short IFS (SIFS)—used for immediate response
actions such as ACK
 Point Coordination Function IFS (PIFS)—used
to poll nodes that have specific time requirement
 Distributed Coordination function IFS
(DIFS)—standard interval between transmission of data
frames

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Interframe Spaces

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 CSMA/CA Transmissions and
Backoff Intervals
Figure 6-24 shows transmission by Client A using
DSSS with backoff interval of 3
 Receiving client sends back ACK in SIFS gap; then
process starts over again
Figure 6-25 shows two clients needing to transmit
with client with lowest backoff interval getting
access first
 Client A using DSSS has backoff interval of 3 while Client
B has backoff interval of only 2

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 CSMA/CA with
One Client Transmitting

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 CSMA/CA with
Two Clients Transmitting

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ANY QUESTIONS ?

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