Ethernet and Wireless Local Area Networks

History of Ethernet Standards

Ethernet

The dominant wired LAN technology today

Only competitor is wireless LANs (which actually are supplementary)

The IEEE 802 Committee

LAN standards development is done primarily by the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

IEEE created the 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee for LAN standards (the 802 Committee)
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History of Ethernet Standards

The 802 Committee creates working groups for specific types of standards

802.1 for general standards 802.3 for Ethernet standards The terms 802.3 and Ethernet are interchangeable 802.11 for wireless LAN standards

802.16 for WiMax wireless metropolitan area network standards

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Ethernet Physical Layer Standards

UTP Physical Layer Standards 10BASE-T 100BASE-TX 1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet) Speed 10 Mbps 100 Mbps Maximum Run Length Medium Required

100 meters 4-pair Category 3 or higher 100 meters 4-pair Category 5 or higher

1,000 Mbps 100 meters 4-pair Category 5 or higher

100BASE-TX dominates access links today. Although 1000BASE-T is growing in access links today 4

Ethernet Physical Layer Standards

Fiber Physical Layer Standards 1000BASE-SX 1000BASE-SX 1000BASE-SX 1000BASE-SX Medium Speed Maximum Run 850 nm light (inexpensive) Length Multimode fiber 1 Gbps 220 m 62.5 160 microns MHz-km 1 Gbps 1 Gbps 1 Gbps 275 m 500 m 550 m 62.5 50 50 200 400 500

The 1000BASE-SX standard dominates trunk links today. Carriers use 1310 and 1550 nm light and single-mode fiber. 5

Gigabit Ethernet

10 Gbps Ethernet usage is small but growing Several 10 Gbps 10GBASE-x fiber standards are defined, but none is dominant Copper is cheaper than fiber but cannot go as far

100 Gbps has been selected as the next Ethernet speed

Chosen over 40 Gbps

100 Gbps Ethernet standards development is just getting underway

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Data Link Using Multiple Switches

Received Received Original Received Regenerated Signal Regenerated Signal Signal Signal Signal Signal

UTP

62.5/125 Multimode Fiber 1000BASE-SX (220 m maximum) Physical Link

UTP

100BASE-TX (100 m maximum) Physical Link

100BASE-TX (100 m maximum) Physical Link

Each trunk line along the way has a distance limit 7

Multi-Switch Ethernet LAN Architecture

Switch 2 (root switch) Port 5 on Switch 1 to Port 3 on Switch 2 Switch 1 C3-2D-55-3B-A9-4F Switch 2, Port 5 B2-CD-13-5B-E4-65 Switch 1, Port 7 A1-44-D5-1F-AA-4C Switch 1, Port 2 D4-55-C4-B6-9F Switch 3, Port 2 E5-BB-47-21-D3-56 Switch 3, Port 6 8 Port 7 on Switch 2 to Port 4 on Switch 3 Switch 3

Single Point of Failure in a Switch Hierarchy

Switch Fails Switch 2 No Communication

No Communication

Switch 1

C3-2D-55-3B-A9-4F

Switch 3

B2-CD-13-5B-E4-65 A1-44-D5-1F-AA-4C

D4-47-55-C4-B6-9F E5-BB-47-21-D3-56 9

Hierarchy Implications

Single possible path between stations. Makes switching tables very simple because there is only one possible row for each address. Find the row, send the frame out the indicated port. Very fast, so minimizes switching cost.

Port Station 2 A1-44-D5-1F-AA-4C 7 B2-CD-13-5B-E4-65 5 E5-BB-47-21-D3-56

Creates the potential for single points of failure.

Low cost is responsible for Ethernets LAN dominance. 10

Switch Operation in Ethernet

Today, Switches Dominate in Ethernet

A frame comes in one port The switch looks up the frames destination MAC address in the switching table The switch sends the frame out a single port Only two ports are tied up

Other conversations can take place on other port pairs simultaneously

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Ethernet 802.3 10Base2

Ethernet 10Base2

NIC

To Next Station

T-Connector to Link NIC to next segments 12

Ethernet 802.3 10Base2

Ethernet 10Base2
T-connector

To next station

BNC connector

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Virtual LAN with Ethernet Switches

Server broadcasting without VLANS Frame is Broadcast Goes to all other stations Creates congestion

Server broadcast Client C Client B Client A Server D Server E 14

Virtual LAN with Ethernet Switches

Server multicasting with VLANS

With VLANs, broadcasts go to a servers VLAN clients; less latency

Multicasting (some), not Broadcasting (all)

NO Client C on VLAN1 Client B on VLAN2

Server broadcast NO

Client A on VLAN1

Server D on VLAN2

Server E on VLAN1 15

Handling Momentary Traffic Peaks with Overprovisioning and Priority

Momentary traffic peak: Congestion and latency

Traffic

Network capacity

Momentary traffic peak: Congestion and latency

Momentary traffic peaks usually last fraction of a second; They occasionally exceed the networks capacity. When they do, frames will be delayed, even dropped.

Time

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Handling Momentary Traffic Peaks with Overprovisioning and Priority

Overprovisioned traffic capacity in Ethernet Traffic Overprovisioned network capacity

Momentary peak: No congestion

Overprovisioning: Build high capacity than will rarely if ever be exceeded. This wastes capacity. But cheaper than using priority.

Time 17

Handling Momentary Traffic Peaks with Overprovisioning and Priority

Traffic Priority in Ethernet

Network capacity

Momentary peak

High-priority traffic goes Low-priority waits

Priority: During momentary peaks, give priority to traffic that is intolerant of delay, such as voice. No need to overprovision, but expensive to implement. Ongoing management is very expensive.

Time

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Routed LAN with Ethernet Subnets

If a routed LAN links multiple Ethernet switched networks, the switched networks are called subnets

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Wireless LANs

Local Wireless Technologies

802.11 Wireless LANs (Wi-Fi)

Today, mostly speeds of tens of megabits per second with distances of 30 to 100 meters or more Can serve many users in a home or office Increasingly,100 Mbps to 600 Mbps with 802.11n Organizations can provide coverage throughout a building or a university campus by installing many access points
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802.11 Wireless LANs (WLANs)

Wireless hosts connect by radio to access points

Transmission speed: up to 300 Mbps but usually 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps. Distances between station and access point: 300 to 100 meters. 22

Wireless Access Points and NICs

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Typical 802.11 Wireless LAN Operation with Wireless Access Points

802.11 uses a different frame format than 802.3 The access point translates between the two frame formats However, the packet goes all the way between the two hosts 24

Hosts and Access Points Transmit in a Single Channel

The access point and all the hosts it servers transmit in a single channel

If two devices transmit at the same time, their signals will collide, becoming unreasonable
Media access control (MAC) methods govern when a device may transmit; It only lets one device transmit at a time

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Media Access Control (MAC)

MAC methods govern when devices transmit so that only one station or the access point can transmit at a time To control access (transmission), two methods can be used

CSMA/CA+ACK (mandatory) RTS/CTS (optional unless 802.11b and g stations share an 802.11g access point)
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CSMA/CA+ACK in 802.11 Wireless LANs

CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance)

Sender listens for traffic 1. If there is traffic, waits 2. If there is no traffic: 2a. If there has been no traffic for less than the critical time value, waits a random amount of time, then returns to Step 1. 2b, If there has been no traffic for more than the critical value for time, sends without waiting This avoids collision that would result if hosts could transmit as soon as one host finishes transmitting 27

CSMA/CA + ACK in 802.11 Wireless LANs

ACK (Acknowledgement)

Receiver immediately sends back an acknowledgement; no waiting because ACKs have highest priority. If sender does not receive the acknowledgement, retransmits the frame using CSMA/CA.
802.11 with CSMA/CA+ACK is a reliable protocol!

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Request to Send/Clear to Send

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Specific 802.11 Wireless LAN Standards

Characteristic 802.11 802.11a 802.11b 802.11g 802.11g 802.11n with 802.11b Rated Speed 2 54 11 54 Not 100 Mbps Mbps Mbps Mbps Mbps Specito fied 300 Mbps Actual 1 25 6 Mbps 25 12 Closer to Throughput, Mbps Mbps Mbps Mbps rated 3m speed than earlier standards Actual ? 12 6 Mbps 20 11 High at Throughput, Mbps Mbps Mbps longer 30 m distances 30

Specific 802.11 Wireless LAN Standards

Characteristic 802.11 802.11a 802.11b 802.11g 802.11g with 802.11b 2.4 GHz 802.11n

Unlicensed Band

2.4 GHz

Remarks

Dead and gone

2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Little Bloomed Todays Get rid of Greater market briefly dominant old speed accep802.11 802.11b and tance standard distance equip.

5 GHz

2.4 GHz

2.4 GHz

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Specific 802.11 Wireless LAN Standards

802.11g

Most popular 802.11 standard today 54 Mbps rated speed with much slower throughput Generally sufficient for Web browsing Inexpensive

All access points support it

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802.11n

Under development

Rated speeds of 100 Mbps to 600 Mbps

Will operate in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands May use twice current bandwidth per channel (~20 MHz) to roughly double speed Currently a draft standard

A bit of overkill for most users

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Bluetooth Personal Area Networks (PANs)

Bluetooth is standardized by a consortium

Connect devices on or near a single users desk

PC, Printer, PDA, Laptop, Cellphone

Connect devices on or near a single users body

Laptop, Printer, PDA, Cellphone

The goal is cable elimination

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Bluetooth PANs

There may be multiple PANs in an area

May overlap
PANs are called piconets

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Bluetooth PAN Operation

Notebook master

File synchronization Client PC slave Note: Printer is in both piconets; Slave has two masters.

Printing

Printer slave

Piconet 1 Cellphone master Piconet 2

Call through company phone System Telephone slave

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802.11 versus Bluetooth PANs

802.11 Bluetooth

Focus
Speed

Large WLANs
11 Mbps to 54 Mbps In both directions 100 meters for 802.11b (but shorter in reality) Even shorter of 802.11a

Personal Area Network

722 kbps with back channel of 56 kbps. May increase. 10 meters. May increase Only 10 piconets, each with 8 devices maximum 37

Distance

Number of devices in an area

Limited in practice only by bandwidth and traffic

802.11 versus Bluetooth PANs

802.11 Scalability Cost Battery Drain Profiles Good through having multiple access points Probably higher Higher No Bluetooth

Poor (but may get access points)

Probably Lower Lower Yes

Profiles allow specific products to work together. Different profiles for printing, cordless telephones, headsets, etc. Must be implemented on both master and slave.
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Bluetooth PANS

Trends

Bluetooth Alliance is enhancing Bluetooth

The next version of Bluetooth is likely to grow to use ultrawideband transmission

This should raise speed to 100 Mbps (or more) Transmission distance will remain limited to 10 meters Good for distributing television within a house
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Emerging Local Wireless Technologies

In mesh wireless networks, the access points do all routing There is no need for a wired network The 802.11s standard for mesh networking is under development This P2P networking needs high density of devices

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Emerging Local Wireless Technologies

Can be focused electronically to give better reception 41

Emerging Local Wireless Technologies

Ultrawideband (UWB)

Uses channels that are several gigahertz wide

Each UWB channel spans multiple frequency bands

Low power per hertz to avoid interference with other services Wide bandwidth gives very high speeds But limited to short distance and ideal for video networking at home Wireless USB provides 480 Mbps up to 3 meters, 110 Mbps up to 10 meters
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Emerging Local Wireless Technologies

ZigBee for almost-always-off sensor networks

Very low speeds (250 kbps maximum)

Very long battery life (months or years) At the other end of the performance spectrum from UWB

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Emerging Local Wireless Technologies

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Tags

Like UPC tags but readable remotely In most cases, the radio signal from the reader provides power for the RFID tag The RFID tag uses this power to send information about itself Battery-operated RFID tags can send farther and send more information 30-500 KHz, short distances, for supermarket scanning and inventory control 850-950 MHz, large distances, higher speed, for automated toll collection 44

Emerging Local Wireless Technologies

Software-Defined Radio

Can implement multiple wireless protocols

No need to have separate radio circuits for each protocol

Reduces the cost of multi-protocol devices

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