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Computer Science
Thesis no: MCS-2010:08
Dec 2009
The Performance Evaluation of OFDM Based
WLAN (IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g)
Kamil Mohiuddin Shaikh
This thesis is submitted to the School of Computing at Blekinge Institute of Technology in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Computer Science.
The thesis is equivalent to 20 weeks of full time studies.
1
School of Computing
Blekinge Institute of Technology
Box 520
SE 372 25 Ronneby
Sweden
Contact Information:
Author(s):
Kamil Mohiuddin,Shaikh
E-mail: Kam ohiuddin@gmail.com il.m
University advisor(s):
Dr. Guohua Bai
School of Computing
Internet : www.bth.se/tek
Phone : +46 457 38 50 00
Fax : + 46 457 102 45
ABSTRACT
In the past decade there has been a steady growth in development and implementation of
wireless
ccess technology in the Local Area Network (LAN) world.
Mostly
iplexing OFDM has been adopted by IEEE 802.11s
standard
of WLAN standards. 802.11a and
802.11g
n that 802.11a provides high speed throughout the entire coverage area and long
term sol
demodu
ion Multiplexing (OFDM), IEEE 802.11s family, Wireless
Local Area Networks and emerged as in the largest sectors of the telecommunication
industry. Wireless local area network (WLANs) provides connectivity, mobility, and much higher
performance and achievable data rate.
WLAN is a new medium of a
WLAN applications are used in public sectors such as airports, banks, hotels, offices, city
centres because of the flexibility of the people.
Orthongonal Frequency Division Mult
as a transmission technique for high data rate in WLANs.
Now IEEE 802.11 standard has been expanded to a family
both are used Orthongonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) but operate in different
frequency bands.
It is show
ution however it does not provide better solution in most cases as compared to IEEE 802.11g.
Matlab Simulation model based on IEEE 802.11a/g using different modulation and
lation techniques such as BPSK, QPSK and QAM to analysis the best performance of IEEE
802.11a/g with implementation of OFDM.
Keywords: Orthongonal Frequency Divis
Local Area Network, Simulation, MATLAB.
2
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
American Astronomer, Writer and Scientist,
DEDICATIONS
To my father and mother whose kindness always prays for me.
Kamil Mohiuddin Shaikh
Also dedicate this to my family and friends.
I am really proud all of them.
4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
my dre puter Science. Conducting
H, the most Beneficent, and the most Merciful who
tily thanks to my family for giving me such a support while I
my friends who provide me such circumstance which were always
ke to thanks and it is justified to say that it would have been impossible to work and
amil Mohiuddin Shaikh
This Master thesis is
s
am and last nail to achieve MSc degree in Com
uch a research work was luxury because I was allowed to do everything as I wish. I was expected to
do everything as good as possible within a time.
Firstly I would like to thanks to Almighty ALLA
give me strength to complete this task.
After that, I would like to offer my hear
was 7-seas away from them but they did not make me feel about it and the courage and strength I
needed to complete my goals.
I would like to thank all of
favorable to me.
Finally, I would li
submit this thesis without the assistance and support of my respectable advisor Dr. Guohua Bai, to
whom I owe the most overwhelming debt of gratitude. Words are inadequate to express my thanks.
K
Dec 2009
5
CONTENTS
Abstract .............................................2
Dedication......................................................................................................................................4
Acknowledgements....................................................................................................................5
Table of contents ............................................................6
List of Figures...............................................................................................................................8
List of Tables.................................................................................................................................9
Abbreviation..................................................................................................................................10
Chapter 1: Introduction...........................................................11
1.1 Background .............................................................11
1.1.1 IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Network............................................................12
1.1.2 IEEE 802.11a...........................................................................................................12
1.1.3 IEEE 802.11b...........................................................................................................12
1.1.4 IEEE 802.11g...........................................................................................................13
1.2 IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Architecture................................................................14
1.2.1 Stations......................................................................................................................14
1.2.2 Access Point (AP).....................................................................................................14
1.2.3 Wireless Medium.......................................................................................................14
1.2.4 Basic service set (BSS)..............................................................................................15
1.2.5 Distribution System (DS)...........................................................................................16
1.2.6 Extended Service Set (ESS).......................................................................................16
1.3 Motivation........................................................................................................................17
Chapter 2: Problem definition/Goals................................................................................18
2.1 The Problem......................................................................................................................18
2.1.1 Interference ..................................................................................................................18
2.1.2 Multipath Environment.................................................................................................19
2.2 The Suggestion.................................................................................................................20
2.3 The Solution.....................................................................................................................20
Chapter 3: Methodology..........................................................................................................22
3.1 Literature Review..............................................................................................................23
3.2 Questionnaire.....................................................................................................................24
3.3 Simulation.........................................................................................................................25
Chapter 4: The IEEE 802.11 Protocol..............................................................................26
4.1 IEEE 802.11.....................................................................................................................26
4.1.1 THE INFRARED (IR)..............................................................................................26
4.1.2 Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS)...........................................................26
4.1.3 Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)..............................................................27
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1: Basic Service Set [7] ...............................................................................................15
Figure 1.2: Independent Basic Service Set [7]...........................................................................15
Figure 1.3: Extended Service Set [16].......................................................................................16
Figure 2.1: Multipath Propagation.............................................................................................19
Figure 3.1: Research work Methodology...................................................................................22
Figure 3.2: Methodology for the literature.................................................................................23
Figure 3.3 Methodologies for Questionnaire.............................................................................24
Figure 4.1 (a): Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS)..........................................................26
Figure 4.1 (b): Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS)...........................................................27
Figure 4.2: OFDM PLCP Preamble, Header and PSDU [6] .....................................................28
Figure 5.1: Binary Shift Keying (a) Block Diagram (b) Constellation......................................33
Figure 5.2: QPSK (a) Block Diagram (b) Constellation............................................................34
Figure 5.3: QPSK Constellation Scatter Plot..............................................................................35
Figure 5.4: 16 QAM Constellations............................................................................................36
Figure 5.5: 64 QAM Constellations............................................................................................36
Figure 5.6: Received Signal through an AWGN channel...........................................................37
Figure 5.7 Theoretical and Simulated curves of BER for BPSK (10000 symbols)...................39
Figure 5.8 Theoretical and Simulated curves of BER for BPSK (1000 symbols).....................40
Figure 5.9 Theoretical and Simulated curves of BER for 16 QAM..........................................41
Figure 5.10 Theoretical and Simulated curves of BER for 64 QAM..........................................42
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LIST OF TABLES
Table: 1.1 Summarized IEEE Standard.......................................................................................13
Table: 4.1 Rate bits [7]..................................................................................................................25
Table 5.1 Rate-dependent parameters of 802.11a/g [19].............................................................28
Table 5.2 Timing-related parameters of 802.11a [19].................................................................29
Table 5.3 Statistical Data of Bit Error Rate curve BPSK (10000 symbols)................................40
Table 5.4 Statistical Data of Bit Error Rate curve BPSK (1000 symbols)..................................40
Table 5.5 Statistical Data Bit Error Rate for 16 QAM................................................................42
Table 5.6 Statistical Data Bit Error Rate for 64 QAM................................................................43
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ABBREVIATIONS
AIEE American Institute of Electrical Engineers
AP Access Point
BSS Basic service set
BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keyed
CCK Complementary Code Keying
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
DSP Digital Signal Processing
DS Distribution System
DQPSK Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
DSSS Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
DFT Discrete Fourier Transform
ESS Extended Service Set
FHSS Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum
FFT Fast Fourier Transform
FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing
FCC Federal Communications Commission
GPS Global Positioning System
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
MSDU MAC Service Data Unit
MAC Multiple Access Control
NIC Network Interface Card
OFDM Orthongonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
PAM Pulse Amplitude Modulation
PMD Physical Medium Dependent
PLCP Physical Layer Convergence Procedure
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keyed
STA Station
SNR Signal-to- Noise Ratio
Wi-Fi Wireless Fidelity
10
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
In the recent year, the word PORTABLE is the most common word in todays life. Everyone
needs everything should be portable. Wired communication networks can provide the connectivity
and performance but not mobility. WLAN provides the solution for portability with connection of
mobility as well as performance. There is incredible hype in the field of Wireless technology which is
commonly known as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi).
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is the foundation of WLAN product
implemented IEEE standard 802.11 in 1997. IEEE 802.11s family has become very popular in every
different environment due to their simplicity, low cost, easy installation, location freedom and high
data rate. It provides easy way to configuration of computer network using without complex wiring
infrastructure. WLAN deals with local area networking where the communication done over the air
between the connected devices those are within the range. There is a famous saying Nothing is
constant but change, likewise, every days demands in high speed and data rate produce some
technical demands one of them is the demand of high date rates thats why multi carrier transmission
has been implemented in IEEE 802.11s family.
The IEEE 802.11 standard defines both a Multiple Access Control (MAC) protocol and
physical layer implementations at MAC layer; IEEE 802.11 supports both infrastructure and ad hoc
networks [1].
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a special form of multicarrier
transmission, where a single data stream is transmitted over a number of lower rate subcarriers (SCs).
It is either a modulation or multiplexing technique because OFDM is to raise robustness against
frequency selection fading or narrowband interference. In a single carrier system, a single fade or
interferer can cause the entire link to fail, but in a multicarrier system only a small percentage of the
SCs will be affected [2].
Todays 802.11 family is divided into much more substandard but in this thesis it will be an
overview of IEEE 802.11a, 802.11 b and 802.11 g. Further discuss, WLANs have a high-rate data
issues and identify some key research for future of WLAN on basics of OFDM and comparison
performance between 802.11a and 802.11g.
1. Background
In 1963 the "American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE)" and the "Institute of Radio
Engineers (IRE)" merges together now its called the "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE)". Today, the IEEE is leading authority for every field such as aerospace, computers,
telecommunication, biomedical engineering, electrical power and much more.
IEEE is playing a very vital role not only in industry field but also in education field. More than 1430
student branches at colleges and universities in 80 countries prove IEEE's presence in the research
community. [3]
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Currently there are 22 working Group (WGs) in IEEE 802 and each and every WGs can be
divided into subgroup these subgroup are referred to as Task Group (TGs).The most popular WGs are
following:
802.0, wireless Coordination Active Group
802.1, Higher Layer Local Area Network(LAN)Protocols
802.3, Ethernet
802.11, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)
802.15, Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN)
802.16, Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN)
802.17, Resilent Packet Ring
802.20, Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA)
802.22, Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN)
This thesis will focus more on 802.11 and its family.
1.1.1 IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Network
In 1997 IEEE implemented 802.11 Wireless LAN standards. IEEE 802.11s family has become
very popular in every different environment due to their simplicity, low cost, easy installation,
location freedom and high data rate. It provides easy way to configuration of computer network using
without wiring complexity.
IEEE 802.11 standard defined that WLANs can be implemented either optical or radio
technologies for the transmission of the signals through the air. Firstly the original standard defined
rates of 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps. The radio technology is used in WLANs known as Spread Spectrum
modulation. Basically there are two types of spread spectrum modulation techniques which are:
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) and Direst Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS). [4] The
main issue of 802.11 was slow data rate mostly in business environment. The later revision of 802.11
can be more classified into three categories.
IEEE 802.11a
IEEE 802.11b
IEEE 802.11g
1.1.2 IEEE 802.11a
IEEE standard 802.11a has been approved in July 1999 include with a new specification. It
operates in the 5 GHZ spectrum. The 802.11a standard was designed for better scalability and higher
bandwidth application rather than 802.11b include with the data rates of 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54
Mbps using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation.
1.1.3 IEEE 802.11b
IEEE 802.11b extends the original IEEE 802.11 direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)
standard to operate up to 11 Mbps in the 2.4-GHz unlicensed spectrum using complementary code
keying (CCK) modulation. The four data rates of 1, 2, 5.5, and 11 Mbps are specified on up to three
non- overlapping channels and the lowest two rates are also allowed on up to 13 overlapping channels
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[5]. The main disadvantage of the 802.11b is the frequency band is common and interference from the
other networking technology such as Bluetooth, 2.04GHz cordless phone and so on.
1.1.4 IEEE802.11 g
The IEEE's 802.11g standard has been ratified in June 2003. The 802.11g standard provides
optional higher-bandwidth up to 54 Mbps. IEEE 802.11g used two technology DSSS and OFDM at
the 2.4 GHz ISM band.
802.11 802.11a 802.11b 802.11g
Standard
Approved
July 1997 September 1999 September 1999 Completion expected in 2002
Available
Bandwidth
83.5 MHz 300 MHz 83.5 MHz 83.5MHz
Frequency of
operation
2.4-2.4835 GHz
DSSS,FHSS
5.15-5.35 GHz OFDM
5.725-5.825 GHz
OFDM
2.4835GHz
DSSS
2.4-2.4835GHz
DSSS, OFDM
Data Rate per
channel
2.1Mbps
54,48,36,24,18,12,9,6
Mbps
11,5.5,2,1
Mbps
54, 36, 33, 24, 22,
12, 11, 9, 6, 5.5, 2,
1 Mbps
Modulation Type
DQPSK
(2 Mbps DSSS)
DBPSK
(1 Mbps DSSS)
4GFSK
(2 Mbps FHSS)
2GFSK
(1Mbps FHSS)
BPSK
(6,9 Mbps)
QPSK
(12,18 Mbps)
16-QAM
(24,36 Mbps)
64-QAM
(48,58 Mbps)
DQPSK/CCK
(11,5.5 Mbps)
DQPSK(2 Mbps)
DBPSK(1 Mbps)
OFDM/CCK
(6,9,12,18,24,36,48,54)
OFDM (6,9,12,18,24,36,48,54)
DQPSK/CCK
(22, 33, 11, 5.5 Mbps)
DQPSK (2 Mbps)
DBPSK (1 Mbps
compatibility 802.11 Wi-Fi 5 Wi-Fi Wi-Fi at 11Mpbs & below
Table 1: Summarized IEEE Standard.
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Figure 1.1: Basic Service Set [7]
1.2.4 Basic service set (BSS)
The BSS is a collection of Stations that able to communicate with each other within 802.11
wireless local area network then they form a BSS. BSS is also called a cell. There should be at least
two stations, if all stations in the BSS are mobile stations and there is no any connectivity to wired
LAN network, the BSS called an Independent BSS (IBSS).Independent BSS is also called ad-hoc
network.
IBSS does not support relay function. IBSS stations directly communication one and another
(peer to peer) and unable to connect with any BSS. Sometime it is possible that each every mobile
station may not communicate with each other because of limitation of coverage area all mobile
stations should be within a range to communicate. While a BSS includes an access point and one
station, the BSS is not an Independent BSS. It is called an infrastructure BSS or simply as BSS.
Figure 1.2: Independent Basic Service Set [7]
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1.3 Motivation
When I was in school I read the article of DR, Philips. He is inventor of cordless phone he said
that "Radio Waves are picked up from the air". I always thinks that how can I pick waves from the air.
Now I am fully understand what the mean of this sentences is? The best thing in this thesis is that
Wireless technology growing rapidly in all sectors it will help me in future to find a job in this field.
In the recent years, there are large numbers of wireless transmission technology available. These
technologies depend on different network families such as PAN, WLAN, WMAM, and WAN.
Main focus of Wireless communication is to provide data transmission with higher rates. Multipath
propagation is a main problem in WLAN which motivates me to research in this area. Currently, there
is solution in IEEE 802.11standard.
This thesis will focus on WLANs having a high-data rate issues and identify some key research
for future of WLAN on the basis of OFDM and comparison performance between 802.11a and
802.11g.
This thesis report consists of six chapters.
Chapter No.1 fully described introduction and backgrounds of the IEEE 802.11 family, OFDM as
well as IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Architecture.
Chapter No. 2 of this thesis consists of Problem in the research medium and goals.
Chapter No. 3 includes the research methodology (qualitative and quantitative) approach adopted in
the thesis and how research study carried out.
Chapter No.4 provides the depth detail of IEEE 802.11 PHY Layer and THE IEEE 802.11 protocol
and different transmission techniques.
Chapter No.5 describes the simulation model and simulation results based on Matlab.
Chapter NO 6 consists of the conclusion of thesis and future work.
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or having obstacle in close range decreases as well signal strength. Bit Error Rate (BER) rises as
signal loose strength [31].
2.1.2 Multipath Environment
RF signal will turn into wider whilst spread farther, during the transmission between the radio
frequency signal and the receive object. In the process, the RF signal supposed to come across the
item which may reflect or deter the signal. Due to the newest duplicated wave fronts, consequently,
the receiver encounters the multiple wave fronts.
The RF reaching the target through various ways can be regarded as multipath propagation.
Some signal arrives to the target directly, however, the rest getting the aim with overcoming the
obstacle, Hence, leading to a relative longer way before getting to the destination.
Since the path from the receiver up to the transmitter owns more paths over one, multipath
distortion would be given birth to. This takes place around the surface of the walls, metalwork and so
forth.
Figure 2.1: Multipath Propagation.
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The items posed below can be considered as WLAN with a higher possibility of multipath
interference:
Airport hangars
Ceilings
Racks
Shelving
Other metallic items
2.2 The Suggestion
In todays world, The WLAN standard is being accepted rapidly in every environment
particularly in business and educational institutions. The demand of bandwidth increases because of
wire-free technology. Customer satisfaction is fundamental rule for any business. WLAN customers
have a right to choose flexible, interoperable solutions from multiple seller and low prices high-speed
throughout small enterprise, large enterprise and home market. Following are the basic services
which are very important to provide WLANs customers:
Performance
Connectivity
Mobility
High data rates
There are many more issues in WLAN has to be resolved. Some of them are hidden node,
multipath, fading and WLAN configuration.
2.3 The Solution
The IEEE 802.11 standard has been improved the performance of Wireless Local Area
Networks, while providing low cost and high-speed data capability. The WLAN performance may
also be improved by using fragmentation option that divides the 802.11 data frames into smaller
pieces sent separately to destination [12], and there is a need of higher data rates to obtain desirable
performance of wireless LANs. IEEE802.11WLAN standard allows large Wireless networks connect
with multiple access points.
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) tried to overcome the multipath
problem through divided bandwidth into many sub-bands of frequency. The adjacent sub-bands in this
system are kept orthogonal from each other so that they do not interfere with each other [30].
IEEE 802.11 b network is easily influenced to multipath propagation because in operation in
DSSS but IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11g uses OFMD technology, it transmits information in
multiple sub channels hence, reduces the impacts of multipath.
This thesis is to explore and identify the methods for high data rate and data transmission
issue with the help of two different techniques, IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11g and to make a
conclusion which offers best performance and result based on OFDM technology.
20
The simulations implemented in MATLAB 7.01. Simulation result proved the performace of
IEEE 802.11a/g PHY using different techniques BPSK, QPSK, 16 QAM and 64 QAM with an
AWGN channel and OFDM techniques. The purpose of this thesis is to:
Provide an overview of existing IEEE 802.11s family.
Performance between IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11g based on OFDM.
Evaluation of WLAN, particularly the IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11g standard.
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
The way to do research is normally called methodology and it is very importance to conduct any
research work, because it provides method that researcher use to get knowledge and solve the problem
and give thought before start the research. There are commonly three research methodologies or
approaches used are:
1. Qualitative Research Approach
2. Quantitative Research Approach
3. Mixed Research Approach
Normally, most of the researcher use more than one methodology approach to answering their
research questions which makes their result more appropriate and suitable to their discussed problems.
In this thesis both of qualitative and quantitative approaches are used which is called mixed approach.
The purpose of adopting mixed approach is to collect and reviewing available research work,
literature and retrieve the simulation result in the field of Wireless LAN. Following figure describes
both qualitative and quantitative methodology use in this thesis.
1. Literature Review
2. Questionnaire
3. Simulation
Figure 3.1: Research work Methodology
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3.3 Simulation
In the end the computer simulation is very useful when researcher cannot evaluate theories in
real world. MATLAB is a high level language which is used to perform numerical computing task
much faster than other programming language such as C, C++, and etc.Furthermore Matlab also can
be used to wide range of applications, including signal and image processing, communications.
Matlab simulation technique is adopted to analyze and verify and validate the appropriate
results. The system model tested through different modulation schemes such as BPSK, QPSK,
16QAM and 64 QAM with an AWGN channel and OFDM modulator and demodulator. The object
of this thesis is to find out the solution to IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11g which offers best
performance and result based on OFDM technology.
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Figure 4.1(b): Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) [29]
4.1.3. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSS) is modulation techniques in which a message signal
is spread over a bandwidth that is typically much greater than that required for reliable
communications.[17]. DSSS PHY is the part of PHY layer works on 2.4 GHz frequency band. Data
transmission is run through the DSSS PMD sub layer. The DSSS PMD get binary bits information
from the PLCP protocol data unit (PPDU) then change into RF signals for the wireless medium by the
help of carrier modulation and DSSS techniques. The PLCP preamble and PLCP header send 1 Mbps
with differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK) and MPUD send at either 1Mbps or 2Mpbs both
uses differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK) modulation techniques [18]. DSSS
techniques also use in cellular network (CDMA), Global Positioning System (GPS).
4.1.4 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
OFDM is a multi-carrier modulation technique which is used to transmitted single data stream
over a number of lower rate subcarrier either modulation or a multiplexing technique. IEEE 802.11s
standard adopted OFDM technology because of transmission high-rate wireless local area networks
(WLANs).The main reasons to merged OFDM in IEEE 802.11 is to increase the robustness against
frequency selective fading and narrow interference. [11]
There are some more features concerned with the OFDM technology are:
High spectral efficiency
Great flexibility
Confirmation to available channel bandwidth
4.2 IEEE 802.11a PHY LAYER
IEEE 802.11a PHY uses an orthogonal frequency Division Multiplex(OFDM) radio which
provide eight different PHY layer with data rate of 6,9,12,18,24,36,48 and 54 Mbits in the 5GHZ
unlicensed National information structure(U-NII) band. The band divided into 52 subcarriers. [19]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allows all 3 bands for unlicensed transmission in
the United States but in the Europe only the low and middle bands are free. IEEE 802.11a physical
27
layer divides into two sub layers, Physical Medium Dependent (PMD) layer and Physical Layer
Convergence Procedure (PLCP) layer. [27] IEEE 802.11a PHY is to transforms PSDU frames at
several data rates up to 54 Mbps for Wireless LAN. The IEEE 802.11 PHY is as same as OFDM PHY
specification of ETSI-HPPERLAN II.
4.3 OFDM PLCP Sublayer of IEEE 802.11a
IEEE 802.11a PLCP Sublayer includes its own PPDU frame standard. PPDU is a combination
of OFDM preamble, signal and data. The PHY Sublayer Service Data Units (PSDU) of the 802.11a is
transformed a PLCP Protocol Data Unit. The PLCP hold the interface with MAC layer it is not
necessary which medium is used. The PLCP converts the data from MAC layer to PMD sub layer.
The PPDU consists of several fields in protocol unit and OFDM frame forced through the Medium
Access Control (MAC) Layer.
The IEEE 802.11a PPDU format is shown in figure 4.2 and it includes:
R A T E
4 b i t s
R e s e r ve d
1 b i t
L e n g t h
1 2 b i t s
P a r i t y
1 b i t
T a i l
6 b i t s
S e r vi c e
1 6 b i t s
P S D U
T a i l
6 b i t s
P a d
P L C P P r e a m b l e
1 2 S y m b ol s
S i g n a l
1 O F D M s y m b ol
D a t a
V a r i a b l e n um b e r of O F D M s y m b ol s
P P D U
P L C P - H e a d e r
C o d e d - O F D M
B P S K R a t e = 1 / 2
C od e d - O F D M
R a t e i n d i c a t e d b y s i g n a l s y m b o l s
Figure 4.2: OFDM PLCP Preamble, Header and PSDU [6]
PLCP Preamble The PLCP preamble consists of 10 short OFDM symbols and two long
symbols. The purpose of short OFDM symbols is to train the receiver to tune AGC (automatic gain
control) and refine estimate of the carrier frequency as well as channel. The long OFDM symbols are
used to fine-tune during data transmission.There are 12 subcarriers for short OFDM symbols and 53
for the long.The transmission of preamble time is 16s.The codingrate of R = 1/2 using BPSK at a
data rate of 6 Mbps. [20]
Rate-This field is used to encode the data rate. The 4 bit rate is used to encode the data rate.
There are 8 possible available rates are: 6, 9, 12, 18,24,36,38 and 54 Mbps. Table 4.1 shows the bits
used to encode each data rates.
28
Date rate
(Mbps)
Bits
(Transmission Order)
6 Mbps 1101
9 Mbps 1111
12 Mbps 0101
18 Mbps 0111
24 Mbps 1001
36 Mbps 1011
48 Mbps 0001
54 Mbps 0011
Table 4.1: Rate bits [7]
Reserved- The reserved must be set to a logic zero and can be reserved for future use.
Length- A 12 bits field specify the number of octets in the PSDU enclose with the Mac
frame. It is used to send least significant bit (LSB) to most significant bit (MSB).
Parity- Parity is base on values of the Rate, Reserved, and Length fields and contains a
single-bit value that is used to provide even parity for error checking.
Tail- 6 bits is set to 0 for the tail signal.
Services: The final field is the 16 bit services field. The 0-6 bits are set to 0 to initialize the
scramble. The remaining bits 7-15 reserved for future use.
4.4 IEEE 802.11g
The IEEE 802.11g for wireless LAN was formed in September 2000 which is now extends
the data rate of the IEEE 802.11b to 54 Mbps from its current level of 11 Mbps. According to the
Stuart Kerry, "By extending the IEEE 802.11b PHY to 54 Mbps, IEEE 802.11g will create data-rate
parity at 2.4 GHz with IEEE standard 802.11a (TM), which allows for a 54 Mbps rate at 5 GHz," [13]
By using OFDM, IEEE 802.11g increase wireless LAN speed up to 54 Mbps. The IEEE
802.11g specification is also compatible with the widely deployed IEEE 802.11b standard. The
parallel operation capability of 802.11g enables mixed network operation. Mixed operation also
allows 802.11b devices to operate at 11Mbps on the same network while new 802.11g devices operate
at 54Mbps. This compatibility provides consumers a clean path to upgraded performance when in a
mixed network. The combination of higher performance and backward compatibility of 802.11g is
29
similar in concept to the wildly successful 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet standard from the wired LAN
world. [28]
Access to fixed-network LANs and internetwork infrastructures has been improved in
802.11g and it create higher performing ad-hoc networks but 802.11g is also limited to the same three
non-overlapping channels as 802.11b.
4.5 Performance and Capacity
Due to the Hidden Node Problem, The 802.11g standard provides an option called CTS/RTS
(Clear-To-Send/ Request-To-Send) to Self, which provides greater throughput when in mixed-cell
mode. As we know that wavelength is inversely proportional to range, a signal transmitted in a lower
frequency spectrum will carry further than a signal travel in a higher frequency band.
In addition, longer waveform tends to propagate better through solid mediums (like walls
glass, trees, etc.) which will transmitted in lower in the frequency spectrum and 802.11g operates in
the same 2.4 GHz portion of the radio frequency spectrum as 802.11b does. As the rule of thumb,
range will decreases as the data rate increases. 802.11b uses DSSS to support data rates of 11, 5.5, 2
and 1 Mbps each, with correspondingly longer ranges as the data rates decrease and on the other side
OFDM is used by 802.11g to support 54, 48,36,24,18,12,9 and 6 Mbps each.
According to the researchers statistics DSSS is not that much efficient than OFDM in the
means of transmission because it support lower data rate than OFDM-based data rates. When
comparison performance between both the latest technologies another factor which is to be considered
is transmit power and receive sensitivity, because selection of transmission type of either DSSS or
OFDM has an effect on the max power the transmitter can use as well as the capability of the receiver
especially at higher data rate.[26]
EVM (Error Vector Magnitude) is a phenomenon when the higher power coming from the
radios transmitter tends to desensitize which results counterintuitive effects. On the other hand
increasing transmits power results to decrease the range of the device at higher data rate.
4.6 Deployment Considerations for IEEE 802.11g
As it discussed earlier 802.11g is considered as the superset of 802.11b because it provides all
the backward compatibility with 802.11b with higher performance with OFDM transmission. There is
another considerable factor which is important that 802.11g heavily relies on earlier 2.4 GHz
technology, which provides significant cost reduction in engineering and economical scale which
results in increasing in production of 802.11g products although the final cost is almost same for both
products.
802.11a leverages 802.11g in the same way 802.11g leverages 802.11b technology. The
production of 802.11g products is high although the final cost is almost same for both products.
802.11 radios has 3 major parts which are MAC, PHY and RF. MAC layer is common in all three
802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. OFDM and DSSS transmission types are in PHY layer and RF is the
part of radio that sends and receives signals accordingly the specific frequency band. [26]
30
Table 5.2 describes the list of timing related parameters the IEEE 802.11a OFDM
Parameter
Value
N
SD
: Number of data subcarriers 48
N
SP
: Number of pilot subcarriers 4
N
ST
: Number of subcarriers, total 52 (N
SD
+ N
SP
)
F : Subcarrier frequency spacing 0.3125 MHz (=20 MHz/64)
T
FFT
: IFFT/FFT period 3.2 s (1/F )
T
PREAMBLE
: PLCP preamble duration 16 s (T
SHORT
+ T
LONG
)
T
SIGNAL
: Duration of the SIGNAL BPSK-OFDM symbol 4.0 s (T
GI
+ T
FFT
)
T
GI
: GI duration 0.8 s (T
FFT
/4)
T
GI2
: Training symbol GI duration 1.6 s (T
FFT
/2)
T
SYM
: Symbol interval 4 s (T
GI
+ T
FFT
)
T
SHORT
: Short training sequence duration 8 s (10 T
FFT
/4)
T
LONG
: Long training sequence duration 8 s (T
GI2
+ 2 T
FFT
)
Table 5.2: Timing-related parameters of 802.11a [19]
5.2 OFDM MODULATION TECHNIQUES Using IEEE 802.11a/g
OFDM is a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) scheme utilized as a digital multi-carrier
modulation method. The main feature of OFDM modulation in IEEE 802.11 standard is to provide
modes with different code rates and modulation schemes due to good performance on highly
dispersive channels which are selected through link adaptation [21]. There are different modulation
techniques using IEEE 801.11a/g as follows:
Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK)
Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK)
16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (16QAM)
64 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (64QAM)
5.2.1 Binary Phase Shift Keying
The phase of the carrier is varied to represent binary ones and zeros which is used to transmit
data via changing and modulating of carrier wave is called Phase Shift keying and if the phase shift
uses two phases differing by 180 degree to represent binary digits, the modulation is called BPSK.
32
Figure 5.1 (b) shows the constellation of BPSK and I-axis and Q-axis is component as an orthogonal
or in quadrature which is separated by 90 degrees. The principle equation of BPSK as following:
s(t)=_ 5.1
Acos(2n
c
t) Binory 1
Acos(2n
c
t +n) Binory u
Acos(2n
c
t) Binory 1
-Acos(2n
c
t) Binory u
c
Where
A = constant
= the carrier frequency
t = the bit duration
(a) (b)
Figure 5.1: Binary Shift Keying (a) Block Diagram (b) Constellation
33
s(t) =_
Acos(2n
c
t - Sn4)
Acos(2n
c
t - Sn4)
5.2
Acos(2n
c
t + n4) 11
Acos(2n
c
t + Sn4) u1
uu
1u
(a) (b)
Figure 5.2: QPSK (a) Block Diagram (b) Constellation
34
Figure 5.3: QPSK Constellation Scatter Plot
In the simulation constellation consists of 4 points but decision is to be taken in two bits. Real
is I channel and Imaginary is Q channel. Input bits {0, 1} to be mapped into QPSK symbols and
output complex values of QPSK symbols is X 0.7071 and Y 0.7071.
35
SNR BER
0 0.007791
1 0.05668
2 0.0375
3 0.02304
4 0.01273
5 0.005894
6 0.002412
7 0.0008173
9 0.00001788
3.846e005
istical Data of Bit Error Rate curve BPSK (10000 symbols)
Figure 5.8 Theoretical and Simulated curves of BER for BPSK (1000 symbols
Table 5.3 Stat
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10
-5
10
-4
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
10
0
Bit to Noise ratio, dB
B
i
t
E
r
r
o
r
R
a
t
e
Simulation BR curve BPSK using OFDM(IEEE 802.11a/g)
Theoretical BR (AWGN)
BER-Simulation
)
SNR BER
0 0.08012
1 0.05612
2 0.02267
3 0.01217
4 0.005635
5 0.002692
6 0.0007885
7 0.0001731
9 3.846e005
Table 5.4 Statistical Data of Bit Error Rate curve BPSK (1000 symbols)
40
5.8 Results
HZ to +10MHz and subcarriers 26/64*20MHz are used. It
means the signal energy is spread over a 20 MHz Bandwidth. BPSK modulation added AWGN
and Conclusions
In these scenario bandwidth from -10M
channel to correspond BER expressions of OFDM system. BPSK bit 0 represent -1 and bit 1 represent
+1. In the figure 5.7 the result calculated almost 10000 symbols and figure 5.8 result calculated almost
1000 symbols to find average BER. The coding rate is
1
2
and can be increased through simulation
code. In the code SNR define as:
SNR = BNRdB + 10*log10 (data_subc/FFT) + 10*log10 (fft/SD);
c= 52
FT = 64
duration is 80 samples)
ix size = 16
of OFDM under an AWGN channel using QPSK
modulation technique has been proved theoretically and simulated.
.9 Simulation Bit Error Rate curves for 16 QAM
Figure 5.9 Theoretical and Simulated curves of BER for 16 QAM
Where
Data_sub
F
SD= 80 (symbol
Cyclic pref
The above figures show the performance
5
0 5 10 15
10
-5
10
-4
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
10
0
Eb/No, dB
B
i
t
E
r
r
o
r
R
a
t
e
Simulation BR curve for 16-QAM modulation
Theoretical 16 QAM
16 QAM (BER) Simulation
41
SNR BER
0 0.1415
1 0.1192
2 0.09779
3 0.007803
4 0.05862
5 0.04192
6 0.0278
7 0.01685
9 0.0092
10 0.004505
11 0.001635
12 0.0006075
13 0.000135
14 1.75e005
Table 5.5 Statistical Data Bit Error Rate for 16 QAM
5.10 Simulation Bit Error Rate curves for 64 QAM
Figure 5.10 Theoretical and Simulated curves of BER for 64 QAM
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
10
-5
10
-4
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
10
0
Es/No, dB
B
i
t
E
r
r
o
r
R
a
t
e
Simulation BR curve for 64-QAM modulation
theoretical 64 QAM
64 QAM Simulation
42
SNR BER
0 0.869
5 0.7198
10 0.4242
15 0.09034
20 0.00097
25 0.04192
Table 5.6 Statistical Data Bit Error Rate for 64 QAM
.11 Results and Conclusions
shows the simulation result of 16 QAM and 64 QAM
constellations are distance between I and Q points if the point on constellation are much closer to each
other th
5
Figure 5.9 and figure 5.10
e data error can be reduced as well as transmission easily influenced to noise. 64 QAM is
much better than 16 QAM when BER decrease SNR will be increase because signal is stronger than
noise. 64QAM modulation need higher bandwidth and gives an excellent data rates as compared to 16
QAM
43
References:
[1] Rusty O. Baldwin, N. J. Davis, Scott F. Midkiff, A Real-Time Medium Access Control
Protocol for Ad hoc Wireless Local Area Networks, Year of Publication: 1999, ISSN: 1559-
1662
[2] Ramjee Prasad OFDM for Wireless Communications Systems Year of publication 2004,
ISSN 1-58053-796-0, page # 150-160
[3] Bernhard H.Walke, Stefan Mangold, Lars Berlemann,"IEEE 802 Wireless Systems",
ISBN: 978-0-470-01439-4, Page No. 4-5.
[4] Sorin M. SCHWARTZ FHSS vs. DSSS, page 1 of 16
[5] White paper 802.11g-WP104-R www.54g.org visited 10 November 2009
[6] Bob O'Hara, Al Petrick, IEEE 802.11 handbook: a designer's companion page # 5-6,
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[8] William Stallings, Data and Computer Communications , 7th Edition page 525-540
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nd
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[13] Stuart Kerry, Chair of the IEEE 802.11 Working Group
[14] P. Chatzimisios, A. C. Boucouvalas,V. Vitsas , Performance analysis of the IEEE 802.11
MAC protocol for wireless LANs, Published online 2 June 2005 in Wiley InterScience
[15] P.Nicopolitidis, Wireless networks ISBN 0470 845295,page # 245-250
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Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications: High Speed Physical Layer in the 5 GHz Band, 1999
45
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