Wireless and Mobile Networks

Reading: Sections 2.8 and 4.2.5

COS 461: Computer Networks
Spring 2007 (MW 1:30-2:50 in Friend 004)

Jennifer Rexford
Teaching Assistant: Ioannis Avramopoulos
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spring07/cos461/
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`oals of Today¶s Lecture
G Wireless links: unique channel characteristics
u High, time-varying bit-error rate
u Broadcast where some nodes can¶t hear each other

G Mobile hosts: addressing and routing challenges

u Keeping track of the host¶s changing attachment point
u Maintaining a data transfer as the host moves

G Two specific technologies

u Wireless: 802.11 wireless LAN (aka ³WiFi´)
u Mobility: Mobile IP

Many slides adapted from Jim Kurose¶s lectures at UMass-Amherst Ô

Wireless Links and Wireless Networks

×
Wireless Links: High Bit Error Rate
G ecreasing signal strength
u isperses as it travels greater distance
uAttenuates as it passes through matter

O
Wireless Links: High Bit Error Rate
G Interference from other sources
u Radio sources in same frequency band
u E.g., 2.4 GHz wireless phone interferes with
802.11b wireless LAN
u Electromagnetic noise (e.g., microwave oven)

2
Wireless Links: High Bit Error Rate
G Multi-path propagation
uElectromagnetic waves reflect off objects
uTaking many paths of different lengths
uCausing blurring of signal at the receiver

receiver
transmitter

6
[ealing With Bit Errors
G Wireless vs. wired links
u Wired: most loss is due to congestion
u Wireless: higher, time-varying bit-error ate

G ealing with high bit-error rates

u Sender could increase transmission power
Requires more energy (bad for battery-powered hosts)
Creates more interference with other senders
u Stronger error detection and recovery
More powerful error detection codes
Link-layer retransmission of corrupted frames

©
Wireless Links: Broadcast Limitations
G Wired broadcast links
u E.g., Ethernet bridging, in wired LANs
u All nodes receive transmissions from all other nodes

G Wireless broadcast: hidden terminal problem

GA and B hear each other

GB and C hear each other
GBut, A and C do not

¦
So, A and C are unaware
of their interference at B.

u
Wireless Links: Broadcast Limitations
G Wired broadcast links
u E.g., Ethernet bridging, in wired LANs
u All nodes receive transmissions from all other nodes

G Wireless broadcast: fading over distance

¦
GA and B hear each other

GB and C hear each other


GBut, A and C do not
¦





So, A and C are unaware

of their interference at B.


Example Wireless Link Technologies
G ata networks
u Indoor (10-30 meters)
802.11n: 200 Mbps
802.11a and g: 54 Mbps
802.11b: 5-11 Mbps
802.15.1: 1 Mbps
u Outdoor (50 meters to 20 kmeters)
802.11 and g point-to-point: 54 Mbps
WiMax: 5-11 Mbps

G Cellular networks, outdoors

u 3G enhanced: 4 Mbps
u 3G: 384 Kbps
u 2G: 56 Kbps
m
Wireless Network: Wireless Link
Wireless link
G Typically used to connect
mobile(s) to base station
G Also used as backbone link
G Multiple access protocol


coordinates link access




mm
Wireless Network: Wireless Hosts

Wireless host
G Laptop, P A, IP phone
G Run applications
G May be stationary (non-

 mobile) or mobile




mÔ
Wireless Network: Base Station
Base station
G Typically connected to
wired network
G Relay responsible for
sending packets between
wired network and wireless


host(s) in its ³area´



G E.g., cell towers, 802.11
access points

m×
Wireless Network: Infrastructure

Network infrastructure
G Larger network with which a
wireless host wants to
communicate
G Typically a wired network

 G Provides traditional network


 services
G May not always exist

mO
Scenario #1: Infrastructure Mode
Infrastructure mode
G Base station connects
mobiles into wired network
G Network provides services
(addressing, routing, NS)
G Handoff: mobile changes

 base station providing


 connection to wired network

m2
Scenario #2: Ad Hoc Networks
Ad hoc mode
G No base stations
G Nodes can only transmit to other
nodes within link coverage
G Nodes self-organize and route
among themselves

m6
Infrastructure vs. Ad Hoc
G Infrastructure mode
u Wireless hosts are associated with a base station
u Traditional services provided by the connected network
u E.g., address assignment, routing, and NS resolution

G Ad hoc networks
u Wireless hosts have no infrastructure to connect to
u Hosts themselves must provide network services

G Similar in spirit to the difference between

u Client-server communication
u Peer-to-peer communication
m©
[ifferent Types of Wireless Networks

Infrastructure-based Infrastructure-less
Single hop Base station connected No wired network; one
to larger wired network node coordinates the
(e.g., WiFi wireless transmissions of the
LAN, and cellular others (e.g., Bluetooth,
telephony networks) and ad hoc 802.11)
Multi-hop Base station exists, but No base station exists,
some nodes must relay and some nodes must
through other nodes relay through others
(e.g., wireless sensor (e.g., mobile ad hoc
networks, and wireless networks, like vehicular
mesh networks ad hoc networks)
mu
WiFi: 802.11 Wireless LANs

m
802.11 LAN Architecture
G Access Point (AP)
u Base station that


communicates with the
wireless hosts
G Basic Service Set (BSS)
u Coverage of one AP

 u AP acts as the master


¦ u Identified by an ³network
name´ known as an SSI

¦

 SSI[: Service Set Identifier Ô

Channels and Association
G Multiple channels at different frequencies
u Network administrator chooses frequency for AP
u Interference if channel is same as neighboring AP

G Access points send periodic beacon frames

u Containing AP¶s name (SSI ) and MAC address
u Host scans channels, listening for beacon frames
u Host selects an access point to associate with

GBeacon frames from APs

GAssociate request from host
GAssociation response from AP

Ôm
Mobility Within the Same Subnet
G H1 remains in same IP subnet
u IP address of the host can remain same
u Ongoing data transfers can continue uninterrupted

G H1 recognizes the need to change

u H1 detects a weakening signal 

u Starts scanning for stronger one



G Changes APs with same SSI
u H1 disassociates from one 
u And associates with other ¦

G Switch learns new location ¦

u Self-learning mechanism  

ÔÔ
CSMA: Carrier Sense, Multiple Access
G Multiple access: channel is shared medium
u Station: wireless host or access point
u Multiple stations may want to transmit at same time

G Carrier sense: sense channel before sending

u Station doesn¶t send when channel is busy
u To prevent collisions with ongoing transfers
u But, detecting ongoing transfers isn¶t always possible

¦



¦






¦
 Ô×
CA: Collision Avoidance, Not [etection
G Collision detection in wired Ethernet
u Station listens while transmitting
u etects collision with other transmission
u Aborts transmission and tries sending again

G Problem #1: cannot detect all collisions

u Hidden terminal problem
u Fading

G Problem #2: listening while sending

u Strength of received signal is much smaller
u Expensive to build hardware that detects collisions

G So, 802.11 does Ê
do collision detection

ÔO
Medium Access Control in 802.11
G Collision avoidance, not detection
u Once a station starts transmitting, send in its entirety
u More aggressive collision-avoidance techniques
u E.g., waiting a little after sensing an idle channel
u To reduce likelihood two stations transmit at once

G Link-layer acknowledgment and retransmission

u CRC to detect errors
u Receiving station sends an acknowledgment
u Sending station retransmits if no ACK is received
u Giving up after a few failed transmissions

Ô2
Host Mobility

Ô6
·arying [egrees of User Mobility
G Moves only within same access network
u Single access point: mobility is irrelevant
u Multiple access points: only link-link layer changes
u Either way, users is not mobile at the network layer

G Shuts down between changes access networks

u Host gets new IP address at the new access network
u No need to support any ongoing transfers
u Applications have become good at supporting this

G Maintains connections while changing networks

u Surfing the µnet while driving in a car or flying a plane
u Need to ensure traffic continues to reach the host
Ô©
Maintaining Ongoing Transfers
G Seamless transmission to a mobile host

A B

Ôu
E.g., Keeping Track of Mobile Friends
G Sending a letter to a friend who moves often
u How do you know where to reach him?

G Option #1: have him update you

u Friend contacts you on each move
u So you can mail him directly

G Option #2: ask his parents when needed

u Parents serve as ³permanent address´
u They can forward your letter to him
u Or, they can update you
Ô
Letting Routing Protocol Handle It
G Mobile node has a single, persistent address
G Address injected into routing protocol (e.g., OSPF)

A B
12.34.45.0/24 12.34.45.7/32

Mobile host with IP address 12.34.45.7 ×

Example: Boeing Connexion Service
G Boeing Connexion service
u Mobile Internet access provider
u WiFi ³hot spot´ at 35,000 feet moving 600 mph
u Went out of business in ecember 2006« o

G Communication technology
u Antenna on the plane to leased satellite transponders
u Ground stations serve as Internet gateways

G
sing BGP for mobility

u IP address block per airplane
u Ground station advertises into BGP
u http://www.nanog.org/mtg-0405/abarbanel.html
×m
Example: Boeing Connexion Service

12.78.3.0/24

Internet

×Ô
Summary: Letting Routing Handle It
G Advantages
u No changes to the end host
u Traffic follows an efficient path to new location

G isadvantages
u oes not scale to large number of mobile hosts
Large number of routing-protocol messages
Larger routing tables to store smaller address blocks

G Alternative
u Mobile IP
××
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G Foreign agent knows about mobile

G Home agent knows location of mobile
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Mobility via Indirect Routing


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Indirect Routing: Efficiency Issues
G Mobile uses two addresses
u Permanent address: used by correspondent (making
mobile¶s location is transparent to correspondent)
u Care-of-address: used by the home agent to forward
datagrams to the mobile

G Mobile may perform the foreign agent functions

G Triangle routing is inefficient
u E.g., correspondent and mobile in the same network

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Mobility via [irect Routing


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No longer transparent to the correspondent ×

Impact on Higher-Layer Protocols
G Wireless and mobility change path properties
u Wireless: higher packet loss, not from congestion
u Mobility: transient disruptions, and changes in RTT

G Logically, impact should be minimal «

u Best-effort service model remains unchanged
u TCP and
P can (and do) run over wireless, mobile

G But, performance definitely M affected

u TCP treats packet loss as a sign of congestion
u TCP tries to estimate the RTT to drive retransmissions
u TCP does not perform well under out-of-order packets

G Internet not designed with these issues in mind

O
Conclusions
G Wireless
u Already a major way people connect to the Internet
u Gradually becoming more than just an access network

G Mobility
u Today¶s users tolerate disruptions as they move
u Tomorrow¶s users expect seamless mobility

G Challenges the design of network protocols

u Wireless breaks the abstraction of a link
u Mobility breaks association of address and location
u Higher-layer protocols don¶t perform as well

G Next time: review of the course for last lecture

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