Wireless

Local Area Networks

 Wireless Local Area Networks
• The proliferation of laptop computers and
other mobile devices (PDAs and cell phones)
created an obvious application level demand
for wireless local area networking.
• Companies jumped in, quickly developing
incompatible wireless products in the 1990’s.
• Industry decided to entrust standardization to
IEEE committee that dealt with wired
LANS – namely, the IEEE 802 committee!!
 Wireless MAC Protocol

Outline:
• design challenges for wireless MAC
– hidden/exposed stations
– flexible control for QoS support
• two design paradigms
– multiple access based
– token based
• rationale for design choices
Wireless Networking Environment
• A simple model:
– A single shared physical channel among users
– Omni-directional antenna, limited transmission range
– Same transmission rate for all users
• Channel characteristics(illustrated with examples)
– wireless transmission is spatial and local
– sender & receiver: different views of the world
– relevant contention is at the receiver side
– contention may induce collisions
– contention/collision/congestion is location dependent
– channel access is a collective behavior from the fairness
perspective: the notion of “local” is misnomer
• Wireless MAC: how to address channel access in a
wireless environment
Design Goals for Wireless MAC
• Requirements for a wireless MAC protocol:
– robustness
– efficiency
– fairness
– support for priority and QoS
– support for multicast
 Hidden Station Problem
• Hidden Stations: within the range of the intended
receiver, but out of range of the transmitter
– hidden sender C

A B C D
Problem: A transmits to B, if C transmits (to D), collision at B
Solution: hidden sender C needs to defer (Question: who tells C, A or B?)

– hidden receiver C

A B C D
Problem: A transmits to B, if D xmits to C, C cannot reply. D confuses (4 cases)
Solution: D needs to be notified that its receiver C is hidden
 Exposed Station Problem
• Exposed Stations: within the range of the intended
sender, but out of range of the receiver
– exposed sender B

A B C D
Problem: C transmits to D, if B transmits (to A), B cannot hear from A
Solution: exposed sender B needs to defer

– exposed receiver B

A B C D
Problem: C transmits to D, if A xmits to B, B cannot reply. A confuses (4 cases)
Solution: A needs to be notified that its receiver B is exposed (how can B hears A?)
 Summary of hidden and exposed
station problem
• Receiver’s perception of a clean/collided packet is
critical
• Hidden/exposed senders need to defer their
transmissions
• Hidden/exposed receivers need to notify their
senders about their status
 MAC Protocol
Resolve channel contention & access:
• Channel access arbitration
– know who are there
– allocate the channel among multiple senders & receivers who
share the channel
• Collision avoidance
– multiple access based
– token based
• Collision resolution
– backoff based
 Solution Space for channel contention
• Multiple access approach
– with carrier sensing
• carrier sensing: provides collision information at the sender, NOT the
receiver
• FAMA, 802.11
– without carrier sensing
• MACA, MACAW
– cons and pros: robust, solves hidden/exposed station
problem, hard to provide QoS
• Token based approach
– TDMA, DQRUMA
– cons and pros: easy to provide QoS, less robust, hard to
handle hidden/exposed stations
IEEE 802 Standards Working Groups

The important ones are marked with *. The ones marked with  are
hibernating. The one marked with † gave up.
 IEEE Standards for Wireless Networks

IEEE 802.11 Wireless LANs

IEEE 802.15 Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN)

IEEE 802.16 Broadband Wireless Access (BBWA)

IEEE 802.20 Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA)

IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover (MIH)

IEEE 802.22 Wireless Regional Area Networks

 IEEE 802.11 (WLAN)
802.11a 5 GHz, up to 54 Mbps
802.11b 2.4 GHz, up to 11 Mbps
802.11d Enables 802.11 to work in various countries where it can't today
802.11e QoS Enhancement
802.11f Adds Access Point Interoperability
802.11g 2.4 GHz, up to 54 GHz, compatible with 802.11b
802.11h Resolves interference issues
802.11i Security Enhancement
802.11j Japanese regulatory extensions
802.11k Radio resource measurement
802.11m Enhanced maintenance features, improvements, and amendments
802.11n Next generation of 802.11 with throughput in excess of 100Mbps
802.11r Enhancements for fast roaming of WLAN units
802.11s Wireless mesh networks
Common Aliases of Wireless Standards

802.11b/g Wi-Fi

802.15.1 Bluetooth

802.15.3 Ultra Wideband

802.15.4 ZigBee

802.16 WiMAX
Categories of Wireless Networks
• Base Station :: all communication through
an access point {note hub topology}. Other
nodes can be fixed or mobile.
• Infrastructure Wireless :: base station
network is connected to the wired Internet.
• Ad hoc Wireless :: wireless nodes
communicate directly with one another.
• MANETs (Mobile Ad Hoc Networks) :: ad
hoc nodes are mobile.
 Wireless LANs

a) Wireless networking with a base station. (b) Ad hoc networking.

The 802.11 Protocol Stack

Part of the 802.11 protocol stack.

 IEEE standard: 802.11

fixed terminal
mobile terminal

server

infrastructure network

access point

application application
TCP TCP
IP IP
LLC LLC LLC
802.11 MAC 802.11 MAC 802.3 MAC 802.3 MAC
802.11 PHY 802.11 PHY 802.3 PHY 802.3 PHY
 Wireless Physical Layer
• Physical layer conforms to OSI (five options)
– 1997: 802.11 infrared, FHSS, DHSS
– 1999: 802.11a OFDM and 802.11b HR-DSSS
– 2001: 802.11g OFDM
• 802.11 Infrared
– Two capacities 1 Mbps or 2 Mbps.
– Range is 10 to 20 meters and cannot penetrate walls.
– Does not work outdoors.
• 802.11 FHSS (Frequence Hopping Spread Spectrum)
– The main issue is multipath fading.
– 79 non-overlapping channels, each 1 Mhz wide at low end of 2.4 GHz
ISM band.
– Same pseudo-random number generator used by all stations.
– Dwell time: min. time on channel before hopping (400msec).
 Wireless Physical Layer
• 802.11 DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum)
– Spreads signal over entire spectrum using pseudo-random sequence (similar
to CDMA).
– Each bit transmitted using an 11 chips Barker sequence, PSK at 1Mbaud.
– 1 or 2 Mbps.
• 802.11a OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Divisional Multiplexing)
– Compatible with European HiperLan2.
– 54Mbps in wider 5.5 GHz band  transmission range is limited.
– Uses 52 FDM channels (48 for data; 4 for synchronization).
– Encoding is complex ( PSM up to 18 Mbps and QAM above this capacity).
– E.g., at 54Mbps 216 data bits encoded into into 288-bit symbols.
– More difficulty penetrating walls.
 Wireless Physical Layer
• 802.11b HR-DSSS (High Rate Direct Sequence
Spread Spectrum)
– 11a and 11b shows a split in the standards committee.
– 11b approved and hit the market before 11a.
– Up to 11 Mbps in 2.4 GHz band using 11 million chips/sec.
– Note in this bandwidth all these protocols have to deal with
interference from microwave ovens, cordless phones and
garage door openers.
– Range is 7 times greater than 11a.
– 11b and 11a are incompatible!!
 Wireless Physical Layer
• 802.11g OFDM(Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing)
– An attempt to combine the best of both 802.11a and
802.11b.
– Supports bandwidths up to 54 Mbps.
– Uses 2.4 GHz frequency for greater range.
– Is backward compatible with 802.11b.
 802.11 - MAC layer
• Access methods
– MAC-DCF CSMA/CA (mandatory)
• collision avoidance via randomized “back-off”
mechanism
• minimum distance between consecutive packets
• ACK packet for acknowledgements (not for broadcasts)
– MAC-DCF w/ RTS/CTS (optional)
• Distributed Foundation Wireless MAC
• avoids hidden terminal problem
– MAC- PCF (optional)
• access point polls terminals according to a list
Distribute Coordination Function (DCF)

• Uses CSMA/ CA (CSMA with Collision

Avoidance).
– Uses both physical and virtual carrier sensing.
– Two methods are supported:
1. based on MACAW(Multiple Access with
Collision Avoidance for Wireless) with virtual
carrier sensing.
2. 1-persistent physical carrier sensing.
 Virtual Channel Sensing in CSMA/CA

• “virtual” implies source station sets duration

field in data frame or in Ready-to-Send
(RTS) and Clear-to-Send (CTS) frames.

• Stations then adjust their NAV (Network

Allocation Vector) accordingly!
1-Persistent Physical Carrier Sensing
• Station senses the channel when it wants to send.
• If idle, station transmits.
– Station does not sense channel while transmitting.
• If the channel is busy, station defers until idle and
then transmits.
• Upon collision, wait a random time using binary
exponential backoff.
 802.11 - MAC layer (cont)
• Priorities
– defined through different inter frame spaces
– no guaranteed, hard priorities
– SIFS (Short Inter Frame Spacing)
• highest priority, for ACK, CTS, polling response
– PIFS (PCF IFS)
• medium priority, for time-bounded service using PCF
– DIFS (DCF, Distributed Coordination Function IFS)
• lowest priority, for asynchronous data service

DIFS DIFS
PIFS
SIFS
medium busy contention next frame
t
Access (after CWmin) if
medium is free  DIFS
802.11 - CSMA/CA basic access method
contention window
DIFS DIFS (randomized back-off
mechanism)

medium busy next frame

direct access if t
medium is free  DIFS slot time

– station ready to send starts sensing the medium (Carrier Sense based
on CCA, Clear Channel Assessment)
– if the medium is free for the duration of an Inter-Frame Space (IFS),
the station can start sending after CWmin (IFS depends on packet type)
– if the medium is busy, the station has to wait for a free IFS, then the
station must additionally wait a random back-off time (collision
avoidance, multiple of slot-time)
– if another station occupies the medium during the back-off time of the
station, the back-off timer stops (fairness)
 802.11 - CSMA/CA (cont)
• Sending unicast packets
– station has to wait for DIFS (and CWmin) before sending data
– receivers acknowledge at once (after waiting for SIFS) if the
packet was received correctly (CRC)
– automatic retransmission of data packets in case of transmission
errors

DIFS
data
sender
SIFS
ACK
receiver
DIFS
other data
stations t
waiting time contention
 IEEE 802.11 MAC Protocol
CSMA Version of the Protocol:
sense channel idle for DISF sec (Distributed Inter Frame Space)
transmit frame (no Collision Detection)
receiver returns ACK after SIFS (Short Inter Frame Space)
if channel sensed busy => binary backoff
NAV: Network Allocation Vector (min time of deferral)
 802.11 - CSMA/CA with RTS/CTS
• Sending unicast packets
– station can send RTS with reservation parameter after waiting for DIFS
(reservation declares amount of time the data packet needs the medium)
– acknowledgement via CTS after SIFS by receiver (if ready to receive)
– sender can now send data at once, acknowledgement via ACK
– other stations store medium reservations distributed via RTS and CTS

DIFS
RTS data
sender
SIFS SIFS
CTS SIFS ACK
receiver

NAV (RTS) DIFS

other NAV (CTS) data
stations t
defer access contention
 Collision Avoidance
• RTS freezes stations near the transmitter
• CTS “freezes” stations within range of receiver (but possibly hidden
from transmitter); this prevents collisions by hidden station during data
transfer
• RTS and CTS are very short: collisions during data phase are thus
very unlikely (similar effect as Collision Detection)
• Note: IEEE 802.11 allows CSMA, CSMA/CA and “polling” from AP
 Fragmentation in 802.11

• High wireless error rates  long packets have less

probability of being successfully transmitted.
• Solution: MAC layer fragmentation with stop-and-
wait protocol on the fragments.
 Point Coordinated Function (PCF)
• PCF uses a base station to poll other stations
to see if they have frames to send.
• No collisions occur.
• Base station sends beacon frame periodically.
• Base station can tell another station to sleep to
save on batteries and base stations holds
frames for sleeping station.
 MAC-PCF (Point Coordination
Function) like polling

t0 t1
SuperFrame

medium busy PIFS SIFS SIFS

D1 D2
point
coordinator SIFS SIFS
U1 U2
wireless
stations
stations‘ NAV
NAV
 MAC-PCF (cont)

t2 t3 t4

PIFS SIFS
D3 D4 CFend
point
coordinator SIFS
U4
wireless
stations
stations‘ NAV
NAV contention free period contention t
period
 DCF and PCF Co-Existence
• Distributed and centralized control can co-exist using
InterFrame Spacing.
• SIFS (Short IFS) :: is the time waited between packets
in an ongoing dialog (RTS,CTS,data, ACK, next frame)
• PIFS (PCF IFS) :: when no SIFS response, base station
can issue beacon or poll.
• DIFS (DCF IFS) :: when no PIFS, any station can
attempt to acquire the channel.
• EIFS (Extended IFS) :: lowest priority interval used to
report bad or unknown frame.
Interframe Spacing in 802.11.
CSMA/CA Protocol:
congestion control
 Congestion Avoidance:
IEEE 802.1 DCF

• Before transmitting a packet, randomly choose a backoff

interval in the range [0,cw]
– cw is the contention window

• “Count down” the backoff interval when medium is idle

– Count-down is suspended if medium becomes busy

• When backoff interval reaches 0, transmit packet (or RTS)

 DCF Example
Let cw = 31

B1 = 25 B1 = 5
wait data

data wait
B2 = 20 B2 = 15 B2 = 10

B1 and B2 are backoff intervals

at nodes 1 and 2
 Congestion Avoidance
• The time spent counting down backoff intervals
contributes to MAC overhead

• Choosing a large cw leads to large backoff

intervals and can result in larger overhead

• Choosing a small cw leads to a larger number of

collisions (more likely that two nodes count down
to 0 simultaneously)
 Congestion Control
• Since the number of nodes attempting to transmit
simultaneously may change with time, some
mechanism to manage congestion is needed

• IEEE 802.11 DCF: Congestion control achieved

by dynamically adjusting the contention window
cw
Binary Exponential Backoff in DCF

• When a node fails to receive CTS in

response to its RTS, it increases the
contention window
– cw is doubled (up to an upper bound – typically
5 times)

• When a node successfully completes a data

transfer, it restores cw to CWmin
 MILD Algorithm in MACAW
[Bharghavan94Sigcomm]
• When a node fails to receive CTS in response to its RTS, it
multiplies cw by 1.5
– Less aggressive than 802.11, which multiplies by 2

• When a node successfully completes a transfer, it reduces cw by 1

– More conservative than 802.11, where cw is restored to Cwmin
– 802.11 reduces cw much faster than it increases it
– MACAW: cw reduction slower than the increase
Exponential Increase Linear Decrease

• MACAW can avoid wild oscillations of cw when congestion is

high
CSMA/CA Protocol:
fairness
 Fairness Issue
• Many definitions of fairness plausible

• Simplest definition: All nodes should

receive equal bandwidth

A B
Two flows

C D
 Fairness Issue
• Assume that initially, A and B both choose a backoff
interval in range [0,31] but their RTSs collide

• Nodes A and B then choose from range [0,63]

– Node A chooses 4 slots and B choose 60 slots
– After A transmits a packet, it next chooses from range
[0,31]
– It is possible that A may transmit several packets before
B transmits its first packet

A B
Two flows

C D
 Fairness Issue
• Observation: unfairness occurs when one
node has backed off much more than some
other node

A B
Two flows

C D
 MACAW Solution for Fairness
• When a node transmits a packet, it appends
its current cw value to the packet
• All nodes hearing that cw value use it for
their future transmission attempts
• The effect is to reset all competing nodes to
the same ground rule
 Weighted Fair Queueing

• Assign a weight to each node

• Goal: bandwidth used by each node should

be proportional to the weight assigned to the
node
 Distributed Fair Scheduling (DFS)
[Vaidya00Mobicom]
• A fully distributed algorithm for achieving weighted fair
queueing
• Key idea: if sender A has weight =1 and sender B has
weight = 2, they split the bandwidth 1 to 2
• Choose backoff intervals proportional to
(packet size / weight)
• DFS attempts to mimic the centralized Self-Clocked Fair
Queueing algorithm [Golestani]
• Works well on a LAN
 Distributed Fair Scheduling (DFS)

B1 = 15 B1 = 10 B1 = 5
wait wait
Collision !
data data
B2 = 5 B2 = 5 B2 = 5

Weight of node 1 = 1 B1 = 15 (DFS actually picks a random value

Weight of node 2 = 3 with mean 15)

Assume equal B2 = 5 (DFS picks a value with mean 5)

packet size