Data Communications

Data Link Layer Protocols

Wireless LANs
 Wireless Networks
• Several different types of communications
networks are using unguided media.
• These networks are generally referred to as
wireless networks
• Wireless networks are available in small,
medium and large sizes
 Mobile Communication Technology according to
IEEE (examples)
WiFi
Local wireless networks 802.11a 802.11h
WLAN 802.11 802.11i/e/…/n/…/z/aa
802.11b 802.11g

ZigBee
802.15.4 802.15.4a/b/c/d/e/f/g
Personal wireless nw
WPAN 802.15 802.15.5, .6 (WBAN)
802.15.2 802.15.3 802.15.3b/c
802.15.1
Bluetooth
Wireless distribution networks
WMAN 802.16 (Broadband Wireless Access) WiMAX
+ Mobility
[802.20 (Mobile Broadband Wireless Access)]
802.16e (addition to .16 for mobile devices)
 Characteristics of wireless LANs
• Advantages
– very flexible
– Ad-hoc networks without previous planning possible
– (almost) no wiring difficulties (e.g. historic buildings, firewalls)
– more robust against disasters like earthquakes, fire, ...
• Disadvantages
– typically very low bandwidth compared to wired networks
(1-10 Mbit/s) due to shared medium
– many proprietary solutions, especially for higher bit-rates,
standards take their time (e.g. IEEE 802.11n)
– products have to follow many national restrictions if working
wireless, it takes a vary long time to establish global solutions
 Comparison: infrared vs. radio
transmission
• Infrared • Radio
– uses IR diodes, diffuse light, multiple – typically using the license free
reflections (walls, furniture etc.) ISM band at 2.4 GHz
• Advantages
• Advantages
– simple, cheap, available in many
mobile devices – experience from wireless WAN
– no licenses needed and mobile phones can be used
– simple shielding possible – coverage of larger areas possible
• Disadvantages (radio can penetrate walls,
furniture etc.)
– interference by sunlight, heat sources
etc. • Disadvantages
– many things shield or absorb IR light – very limited license free
– low bandwidth frequency bands
• Example – shielding more difficult,
– IrDA (Infrared Data Association) interference with other electrical
interface available everywhere devices
 Infrastructure vs. ad-hoc networks
infrastructure
network
AP: Access Point
AP

AP wired network
AP

ad-hoc network
 802.11 - Architecture of an infrastructure network
• Station (STA)
802.11 LAN – terminal with access mechanisms to the
802.x LAN
wireless medium and radio contact to
the access point
• Basic Service Set (BSS)
STA1
BSS1 – group of stations using the same radio
Portal frequency
Access
• Access Point
Point
– station integrated into the wireless LAN
Distribution System and the distribution system
Access • Portal
ESS Point – bridge to other (wired) networks
• Distribution System
BSS2 – interconnection network to form one
logical network (EES: Extended Service
Set) based
on several BSS

STA2 802.11 LAN STA3

 802.11 - Architecture of an ad-hoc network
• Direct communication within a
802.11 LAN limited range
– Station (STA):
terminal with access mechanisms to
STA1
STA3
the wireless medium
IBSS1
– Independent Basic Service Set
(IBSS):
group of stations using the same
STA2 radio frequency

IBSS2

STA5

STA4 802.11 LAN

 IEEE standard 802.11
fixed
terminal
mobile terminal

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
Motivation
• Can we apply media access methods from fixed networks?

• Example CSMA/CD
• Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
• send as soon as the medium is free, listen into the medium if
a collision occurs (legacy method in IEEE 802.3)
• Problems in wireless networks
• signal strength decreases proportional to the square of the
distance
• the sender would apply CS and CD, but the collisions happen
at the receiver
• it might be the case that a sender cannot “hear” the
collision, i.e., CD does not work
• furthermore, CS might not work if, e.g., a terminal is
“hidden”
Motivation - hidden and exposed
terminals
• Hidden terminals
• A sends to B, C cannot receive A
• C wants to send to B, C senses a “free” medium (CS fails)
• collision at B, A cannot receive the collision (CD fails)
• A is “hidden” for C

A B C
• Exposed terminals
• B sends to A, C wants to send to another terminal (not A or B)
• C has to wait, CS signals a medium in use
• but A is outside the radio range of C, therefore waiting is not
necessary
• C is “exposed” to B
Motivation - near and far terminals
• Terminals A and B send, C receives
• signal strength decreases proportional to the square of the distance
• the signal of terminal B therefore drowns out A’s signal
• C cannot receive A

A B C

• If C for example was an arbiter for sending rights, terminal B

would drown out terminal A already on the physical layer
• Also severe problem for CDMA-networks - precise power control
needed!
 Medium Access Methods in IEEE 802.11
• Three medium access methods are supported by IEEE
802.11
– (Distributed Foundation Wireless MAC with Distributed
Coordination Function using Carrier Sense, Multiple Access
with Collision Avoidance)
DFWMAC-DCF CSMA/CA
– (Distributed Foundation Wireless MAC with Distributed
Coordination Function using Request To Send/Clear To Send
Messages)
DFWMAC-DCF w/ RTS/CTS
– (Distributed Foundation Wireless MAC Point Coordination
Function )
DFWMAC-PCF
 802.11 - MAC layer I - DFWMAC
• Access methods
– DFWMAC-DCF CSMA/CA (mandatory)
• collision avoidance via randomized “back-off“
mechanism
• minimum distance between consecutive packets
• ACK packet for acknowledgements (not for broadcasts)
– DFWMAC-DCF w/ RTS/CTS (optional)
• Distributed Foundation Wireless MAC
• avoids hidden terminal problem
– DFWMAC- PCF (optional)
• access point polls terminals according to a list
• Priorities
802.11 - MAC layer II
– 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
direct access if
medium is free ≥ DIFS
802.11 - CSMA/CA access method I
• 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 (IFS depends on service 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)

contention window
DIFS DIFS
(randomized back-off
mechanism)
medium busy next frame

direct access if t
medium is free ≥ DIFS slot time (20µs)
 802.11 - competing stations - simple
version
DIFS DIFS DIFS DIFS
boe bor boe bor boebusy
station1

boe busy
station2

busy
station3

boe busy boebor

station4

boe bor boe busy boebor

station5
t

busy medium not idle (frame, ack etc.) boe elapsed backoff time

packet arrival at MAC bor residual backoff time

 802.11 - CSMA/CA access method II
• Sending unicast packets
– station has to wait for DIFS 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
 802.11 - DFWMAC
• Sending unicast packets
– station can send RTS with reservation parameter after waiting for DIFS (reservation
determines 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
 Fragmentation

DIFS
RTS frag1 frag2
sender
SIFS SIFS SIFS
CTSSIFS ACK SIFS
1 ACK2
receiver

NAV (RTS)
NAV (CTS)
NAV (frag1) DIFS
other NAV (ACK1) data
stations t
contention
 DFWMAC-PCF I (almost never used)
t0 t1
SuperFrame

medium busy PIFS SIFS SIFS

D1 D2
point
coordinator SIFS SIFS
U1 U2
wireless
stations
stations‘ NAV
NAV
 DFWMAC-PCF II
t2 t3 t4

PIFS SIFS
D3 D4 CFend
point
coordinator SIFS
U4
wireless
stations
stations‘ NAV
NAV contention free period contention t
period
 802.11 - MAC Management
• Synchronization
– try to find a LAN, try to stay within a LAN
– timer etc.
• Power management
– sleep-mode without missing a message
– periodic sleep, frame buffering, traffic measurements
• Association/Re-association
– integration into a LAN
– roaming, i.e. change networks by changing access points
– scanning, i.e. active search for a network
• MIB - Management Information Base
– managing, read, write
Synchronization using a Beacon (with
infrastructure)
beacon interval
(20ms – 1s)

B B B B
access
point
busy busy busy busy
medium
t
value of the timestamp B beacon frame
 Synchronization using a Beacon
(ad-hoc)
beacon interval

B1 B1
station1

B2 B2
station2

busy busy busy busy

medium
t
value of the timestamp B beacon frame random delay
 Power management
• Idea: switch the transceiver off if not needed
• States of a station: sleep and awake
• Timing Synchronization Function (TSF)
– stations wake up at the same time
• Infrastructure
– Traffic Indication Map (TIM)
• list of unicast receivers transmitted by AP
– Delivery Traffic Indication Map (DTIM)
• list of broadcast/multicast receivers transmitted by AP
• Ad-hoc
– Ad-hoc Traffic Indication Map (ATIM)
• announcement of receivers by stations buffering frames
• more complicated - no central AP
• collision of ATIMs possible (scalability?)
Power saving with wake-up patterns
(infrastructure)
TIM interval DTIM interval

D B T T d D B
access
point
busy busy busy busy
medium

p d
station
t
T TIM D DTIM awake

B broadcast/multicast p PS poll d data transmission

to/from the station
Power saving with wake-up patterns
(ad-hoc)
ATIM
window beacon interval

B1 A D B1
station1

B2 B2 a d
station2

t
B beacon frame random delay A transmit ATIM D transmit data

awake a acknowledge ATIM d acknowledge data

 802.11 - Roaming
• No or bad connection? Then perform:
• Scanning
– scan the environment, i.e., listen into the medium for beacon signals or send
probes into the medium and wait for an answer
• Re-association Request
– station sends a request to one or several AP(s)
• Re-association Response
– success: AP has answered, station can now participate
– failure: continue scanning
• AP accepts Re-association Request
– signal the new station to the distribution system
– the distribution system updates its data base (i.e., location information)
– typically, the distribution system now informs the old AP so it can release
resources
 802.11 - Frame format
• Types
– control frames, management frames, data frames
• Sequence numbers
– important against duplicated frames due to lost ACKs
• Addresses
– receiver, transmitter (physical), BSS identifier, sender (logical)
• Miscellaneous
– sending time, checksum, frame control, data
bytes 2 2 6 6 6 2 6 0-2312 4
Frame Duration/ Address Address Address Sequence Address
Data CRC
Control ID 1 2 3 Control 4

bits 2 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Protocol To From More Power More
Type Subtype Retry WEP Order
version DS DS Frag Mgmt Data
 MAC address format
scenario to DS from address 1 address 2 address 3 address 4
DS
ad-hoc network 0 0 DA SA BSSID -
infrastructure 0 1 DA BSSID SA -
network, from AP
infrastructure 1 0 BSSID SA DA -
network, to AP
infrastructure 1 1 RA TA DA SA
network, within DS

DS: Distribution System

AP: Access Point
DA: Destination Address
SA: Source Address
BSSID: Basic Service Set Identifier
RA: Receiver Address
TA: Transmitter Address
 Special Frames: ACK, RTS, CTS
bytes 2 2 6 4
ACK Frame Receiver
• Acknowledgement Control
Duration
Address
CRC

bytes 2 2 6 6 4
• Request To Send Frame Receiver Transmitter
RTS Duration CRC
Control Address Address

bytes 2 2 6 4
• Clear To Send Frame Receiver
CTS Duration CRC
Control Address
Questions?