Wireless LANs

Dr. R. V. Raja Kumar

Professor, Dept. of E & ECE,
Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur 721302
deanac@hijli.iitkgp.ernet.in
rkumar@ece.iitkgp.ernet.in

A Presentation at Rourkela

IIT

What is a wireless LAN?

Kharagpur

A wireless LAN is a data transmission system

designed to provide location-independent
network access between computing devices by
using radio waves rather than a cable
infrastructure.
Usually implemented as the final link between
existing wired network and group of client
computers.
Wireless LAN = LAN without wires. Anytime,
anywhere
Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar

Dept. of E & ECE

Application of Wireless LAN

IIT

Kharagpur

Ad hoc network
Infrastructure Network
Point-to-multipoint

Ethernet bridge
Point-to-point
Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar

Dept. of E & ECE

Wireless LAN Standards

IIT

Kharagpur

IEEE 802.11
Established by IEEE in June 1997
Specifies 2.4GHz frequency of 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps.
Two more specifications came up in Late 1999.
IEEE 802.11b Uses CCK and provides data rates
up-to 11 Mbps
IEEE 802.11a & g Uses OFDM and provides data
rates up-to 54 Mbps
HiperLAN
It is primarily used in Europe countries. It operates in
5GHz radio band. There are 2 specifications
namely
HiperLAN/1 and HiperLAN/2
Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar

Dept. of E & ECE

Features of IEEE 802.11a and b

IIT

Kharagpur

IEEE802.11b standard

Direct sequence spread spectrum

Operates in the 2.4GHz band
14 Channels spaced 5 MHz apart
The United States support the first 11
channels
Data rates 11, 5.5, 2 and 1 Mbps

IEEE802.11a standard

Orthogonal Frequency Division

Multiplexing
Operates in the 5GHz band
Data rates 54, 48, 36, 24, 18, 12, and 6
Mbps
6, 12, and 24 are Mandatory
Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar

Dept. of E & ECE

IIT

IEEE 802.11 g

Kharagpur

Specifications same as 802.11a:

Frequency of operation = 2.4 GHz like 802.11b.
Hence signal attenuation is low, unlike in the 5
GHz band.
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
Operates in the 5GHz band
Data rates 54, 48, 36, 24, 18, 12, and 6 Mbps
6, 12, and 24 are Mandatory
Systems are under development

Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar

Dept. of E & ECE

IIT

Kharagpur

An Example for AP and PC

Adapter

Security: 64-, 128-WEP

Media Access Control:
CSMA/CA with ACK
Frequency range:
2.4 to 2.4825GHz
5.150GHz to 5.850GHz
Range of operation: Indoors: 100m
outdoors: 400m
Tx. Power:
15 dBm (32 mW) 2dB
Rx. Sensitivity: 54 Mbps OFDM, 10% PER, -73 dBm
1 Mbps BPSK, 8% PER, -94 dBm
Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar

Dept. of E & ECE

MAC of 802.11 WLAN

IIT

Kharagpur

DCF and PCF (Distributed and Point Co-ordination Functions)

DCF used for asynchronous transmission and PCF used for time bounded
transmission

CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access Collision Avoidance)

DCF uses CSMA/CA and exponential random back-off

ACK (Acknowledgement)

Basic Access Method (Two way handshake mechanism)

Access with RTS and CTS (Four way handshake mechanism)

Request-to-send and Clear-to-send

NAV (Network Allocation Vector)

NAV is a virtual carrier sensing mechanism

DIFS, PIFS and SIFS (Distributed, Point and Short Interframe Space)
DIFS used for asynchronous transmission, PIFS used for time bound
services and SIFS used for acknowledgement and other control frames.
SIFS is the smallest and DIFS is the largest interframe spaces

Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar

Dept. of E & ECE

Basic Access Mechanisms

IIT

DIFS

Kharagpur
(a)

DCF:

DATA
SIFS

Station proceeds with a transmission, if

the medium is idle for an interval of DIFS

ACK

(b)

If the medium is busy, defers

transmission until a DIFS is detected
Generate a random backoff period

DIFS

(c)

Backoff timer decrements, if medium is

idle and frozen if it is busy
A station initiates a transmission when
the backoff timer reaches zero

Defer access

DIFS

Backoff after Defer

SIFS

RTS

(a)

RTS/CTS:

CW

NAV

DATA
SIFS

SIFS

CTS

RTS/CTS mechanism reduces collisions

due to hidden node terminals

ACK

(b)

DIFS
NAV (DATA)

It decreases average collision time

NAV (RTS)

(c)

CW

NAV (CTS)

It is preferred for large data packets

Defer access

Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar

Backoff after
Defer

Dept. of E & ECE

Performance
IIT

At high load, the contribution of

propagation delay is more because
of frequent collisions
No significant change in delay upto
40% of load
Figure shows the average packet delay as a
function of network load for propagation delay = 1,
10, 20, 30 micro secs (20 stations)

Average Delay (Micro Sec) ------->

1e+006

Kharagpur

'PD = 1 micro sec'

'PD = 10 micro sec'
'PD = 20 micro sec'
'PD = 30 micro sec'

100000

10000

1000
0.1

0.15

0.2

0.5

Figure shows the average throughput as

function of network load for propagation delay =
1, 10, 20, 30 micro secs (20 stations)

Average Throughput -------->

Saturation throughput is higher at

lower propagation delay

0.45

0.5

0.5

'PD = 1 micro sec'

'PD = 10 micro sec'
'PD = 20 micro sec'
'PD = 30 micro sec'

0.45

No significant change in throughput

upto saturation

0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

Network Load ------->

0.4

0.35
0.3

0.25
0.2

0.15
0.1
0.1

0.2

Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar

0.3

0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7

Network Load ------->

0.8

0.9

Dept. of E & ECE

IIT

WLAN for Cellular

Kharagpur

WLAN has high bandwidth

Can be used for cellular communication and data connectivity.
MAC protocol suitability?
Range enhancement?
Wireless bridge (narrow beam ant.)
Convergence of WMAN and cellular?

Needs to be investigated
Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar

Dept. of E & ECE

Thank You