WPAN

MOD-V

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 Contents

Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1)

• Network topology
• FHSS operation
• Link delivery services
• System architecture & protocols
• Usage models
ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4)
• Network topology
• Physical layer operation
• CSMA/CA operation

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 IEEE definition of WPAN

 Wireless personal area networks (WPANs) are used to

convey information over short distances among a
private, intimate group of participant devices.

 Unlike a wireless local area network (WLAN), a

connection made through a WPAN involves little or no
infrastructure or direct connectivity to the world
outside the link. This allows small, power-efficient,
inexpensive solutions to be implemented for a wide
range of devices.

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 Bluetooth ≈ IEEE 802.15.1

 A widely used WPAN technology is known as Bluetooth

(version 1.2 or version 2.0)

 The IEEE 802.15.1 standard specifies the architecture

and operation of Bluetooth devices, but only as far as
physical layer and medium access control (MAC) layer
operation is concerned (the core system architecture).

 Higher protocol layers and applications defined in

usage profiles are standardised by the Bluetooth SIG.

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 Piconets

Bluetooth enabled electronic Up to 8 devices

devices connect and in one piconet
communicate wirelessly (1 master and 7
through short-range, ad hoc slave devices).
networks known as piconets. Max range 10 m.

ad hoc => no base station

Piconets are established dynamically

and automatically as Bluetooth enabled
devices enter and leave radio proximity.

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 Piconet operation

 The piconet master is a device in a piconet whose clock

and device address are used to define the piconet
 physical channel characteristics. All other devices in
the piconet are called piconet slaves.

 At any given time, data can be transferred between

the master and one slave. The master switches rapidly
from slave to slave in a round-robin fashion.

 Any device may switch the master/slave role at any

time.

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 Bluetooth radio and baseband parameters

Topology Up to 7 simultaneous links

Modulation Gaussian filtered FSK
RF bandwidth 220 kHz (-3 dB), 1 MHz (-20 dB)
RF band 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band
RF carriers 79 (23 as reduced option)
Carrier spacing 1 MHz
Access method FHSS-TDD-TDMA
Freq. hop rate 1600 hops/s

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 The RF bandwidth of Bluetooth is specified as 220 kHz (-3 dB)
and 1 MHz (-20 dB).
 This means that the Bluetooth signal can transmit frequencies
up to 220 kHz with a power attenuation of -3 dB, and up to 1
MHz with a power attenuation of -20 dB.
 In other words, the Bluetooth signal will have a power
attenuation of 3 dB at frequencies beyond 220 kHz and a power
attenuation of 20 dB at frequencies beyond 1 MHz.
 The -3 dB bandwidth is commonly used to define the
bandwidth of the Bluetooth signal, as it represents the range of
frequencies over which the Bluetooth signal has a power
attenuation of less than half (-3 dB) of its maximum power.

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 Frequency hopping spread spectrum (1)

Bluetooth technology operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band,

using a spread spectrum, frequency hopping, full-duplex
signal at a nominal rate of 1600 hops/second.

Time
1 MHz

The signal hops among 79

frequencies (spaced 1 MHz apart)
in a pseudo-random fashion.
83.5 MHz

2.4000 GHz 2.4835 GHz

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 Frequency hopping spread spectrum (2)

The adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) feature (from

Bluetooth version 1.2 onward) is designed to reduce
interference between wireless technologies sharing the
2.4 GHz spectrum.

Time Interference e.g. due to

microwave oven => this
frequency in the hopping
sequence should be avoided.

2.4000 GHz 2.4835 GHz

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 Frequency hopping spread spectrum (3)

In addition to avoiding microwave oven interference, the

adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) feature can also avoid
interference from WLAN networks:
22 MHz (802.11b)
79 FHSS frequencies 16.5 MHz (802.11g)

WLAN
channel

... ...

2.4 GHz 2.48 GHz 2.4 GHz 2.48 GHz

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 Frequency hopping in action (1)

The piconet master decides on the frequency hopping

sequence. All slaves must syncronise to this sequence.
Then transmission can take place on a TDD-TDMA basis.

Master 625 ms

Slave 1 Slave 2 Slave 3 t

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 Power classes

Bluetooth products are available in one of three power

classes:

Class Power Range

Class 1 100 mW ~100 m Industrial usage
Class 2 2.5 mW ~10 m Mobile devices
Class 3 1 mW ~10 cm

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 Data rates

Channel data rates:

Bluetooth version 1.2 offers a bit rate of 1 Mbit/s.
Bluetooth version 2.0 offers 3 Mbit/s.

Achievable user bit rates are much lower, (among others)

due to the following reasons:

overhead resulting from various protocol headers

interference causes destroyed frequency bursts
=> information has to be retransmitted

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 Bluetooth core system architecture
Data Control

L2CAP Resource Channel L2CAP

layer Manager Manager
Host Controller Interface

Link Manager Link Link Manager Protocol

layer Manager
Link Control Protocol
Baseband
layer Link Controller

Radio layer signalling

Radio layer RF

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 Radio layer (physical layer)

The radio layer specifies details of the air interface,

including the usage of the frequency hopping sequence,
modulation scheme, and transmit power.

The radio layer FHSS operation and radio parameters

have been presented on previous slides.

Radio layer signalling

Radio layer RF

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 DH1 (Data Header 1) is a type of data packet used in Bluetooth
communication. It is the most basic data packet and has a payload of 1-3 bytes.
DH1 packets are used for transmitting voice and low-rate data.
 There are four types of DH1 packets in Bluetooth:
 Null packet: A null packet is used to provide a gap in communication for
synchronization purposes.
 Poll packet: A poll packet is used to request data from a slave device.
 FHS packet: A Frequency Hopping Synchronization (FHS) packet is used
for synchronization between two devices before the establishment of a
connection.
 DM1 packet: A Data Medium 1 (DM1) packet is used for asynchronous
data transfer between two devices. It can carry up to 10 payload bytes.
 Overall, DH1 packets are typically used in low-bandwidth applications such as
voice communication or for sending small amounts of data.

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 Bluetooth data packets with a 6-byte payload are called DH3 (Data
Header 3) packets. DH3 packets are used for transmitting moderate
amounts of data at a higher rate compared to DH1 packets.
 DH3 packets are part of the Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) specification of
Bluetooth, which allows for faster data transfer rates.
 DH3 packets can transmit up to 240 kbps (kilobits per second) of data
and are used in applications such as streaming audio and video.
 In addition to DH3 packets, there are other data packet types in
Bluetooth with varying payload sizes and transmission rates. These
include DH1 packets (1-3 byte payload), DH5 packets (up to 30 byte
payload), and 2-DH5 packets (up to 60 byte payload).
 The specific packet type used depends on the application requirements
and the capabilities of the Bluetooth devices involved in the
communication.

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 Baseband layer

The baseband layer specifies the lower level operations at

the bit and packet levels, e.g., forward error correction
(FEC) operations, encryption, cyclic redundancy check
(CRC) calculations, and handling of retransmissions using
the Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) Protocol.

Link Control Protocol

Baseband
layer Link Controller (LCP)

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 SCO links

 SCO links are used primarily for carrying real-time

data (speech, audio) where large delays are not
allowed (so that retransmission cannot be used) and
occasional data loss is acceptable.
 The guaranteed data rate is achieved through
reservation of slots. The master maintains the SCO link
by using reserved slots at regular intervals.
 The basic unit of reservation is two consecuive slots -
one in each transmission direction. An ACL link must
be established (for signalling) before an SCO link can
be used.

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 ACL link

 The ACL link offers packet-switched data transmission. No

bandwidth reservation is possible and delivery may be
guaranteed through error detection and retransmission.
 A slave is permitted to send an ACL packet in a slave-to-
master slot only if it has been adressed in the preceeding
master-to-slave slot.
 For ACL links, 1-, 3-, and 5-slot packets have been
defined. Data can be sent either unprotected (although
ARQ can be used at a higher layer) or protected with a 2/3
rate forward error correction (FEC) code.

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 Link Manager layer

 The link manager layer specifies the establishment and

release of SCO and ACL links, authentication, traffic
scheduling, link supervision, and power management
tasks.
 These are "control plane" tasks. This layer is not
involved in "user plane" tasks (i.e., handling of the
user data).
Host Controller Interface

Link Manager Link Link Manager Protocol

layer Manager (LMP)

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 Host controller interface

 The open host controller interface resides between the

Bluetooth controller (e.g. PC card) and Bluetooth host
(e.g. PC).
 In integrated devices such as Bluetooth-capable mobile
devices this interface has little or no significance.

L2CAP
layer Host

Host Controller Interface

Link Manager
layer Controller

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 L2CAP layer

 The Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol

(L2CAP) layer handles the multiplexing of higher layer
protocols and the segmentation and reassembly (SAR)
of large packets.
 The L2CAP layer provides both connectionless and
connection-oriented services.

Synchronous traffic Data Control

L2CAP Resource Channel L2CAP

layer Manager Manager
Host Controller Interface

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 A parked slave operates in low-power mode, allowing it to
conserve energy while still maintaining its connection to the
piconet.
 This feature is often used in applications where a device needs to
remain connected to a piconet but does not need to actively
communicate with other devices in the network for an extended
period of time, such as in a wireless headset that is not currently in
use.

 To initiate communication with a parked slave, its master device

can issue a "park" command, which temporarily removes the slave
from the piconet and puts it in a low-power mode.
 The parked slave remains in this state until it receives a "wake-up"
command from the master device, at which point it quickly
resumes its connection to the piconet and is ready to communicate.

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 Usage models

A number of usage models are defined in Bluetooth

profile documents. A usage model is described by a set of
protocols that implement a particular Bluetooth-based
application. Some examples are shown on the following
slides:
• File transfer
• LAN access
• Wireless headset
• Cordless (three-in-one) phone.

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Summary

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 IEEE 802.15.4 LR-WPAN (ZigBee)

 ZigBee technology is simpler (and less expensive) than

Bluetooth.
 The main objectives of an LR-WPAN like ZigBee are
ease of installation, reliable data transfer, short-range
operation, extremely low cost, and a reasonable
battery life, while maintaining a simple and flexible
protocol.
 The raw data rate will be high enough (maximum of
250 kbit/s) to satisfy a set of simple needs such as
interactive toys, but is also scalable down to the needs
of sensor and automation needs (20 kbit/s or below)
using wireless communications.

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 LR-WPAN device types

Two different device types can participate in an LR-WPAN

network:
Full-function devices (FFD) can operate in three
modes serving as a personal area network (PAN)
coordinator, a coordinator, or a device.

Reduced-function devices (RFD) are intended for

applications that are extremely simple.

An FFD can talk to RFDs or other FFDs, while an RFD can

talk only to an FFD.

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 Network topologies (1)

Two or more devices communicating on the same

physical channel constitute a WPAN. The WPAN network
must include at least one FFD that operates as the PAN
coordinator.

The PAN coordinator initiates, terminates, or routes

communication around the network. The PAN coordinator
is the primary controller of the PAN.

The WPAN may operate in either of two topologies: the

star topology or the peer-to-peer topology.

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 Network topologies (2)

Star topology In a star network, after an FFD is

activated for the first time, it may
establish its own network and
become the PAN coordinator.

The PAN coordinator can allow

other devices to join its network.

PAN coordinator (always FFD) FFD RFD

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 Network topologies (3)

In a peer-to-peer network, Peer-to-peer topology

each FFD is capable of
communicating with any
other FFD within its radio
sphere of influence. One
FFD will be nominated as
the PAN coordinator.

A peer-to-peer network can be ad hoc, self-organizing

and self-healing, and can combine devices using a mesh
networking topology.

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 ZigBee PHY and MAC parameters

Topology Ad hoc (central PAN coordinator)

RF band 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band
RF channels 16 channels with 5 MHz spacing
Spreading DSSS (32 chips / 4 bits)
Chip rate 2 Mchip/s
Modulation Offset QPSK

Access method CSMA/CA (or slotted CSMA/CA)

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Summary

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