Welcome to

PES University
Ring Road Campus, Bengaluru
Next-Gen Wireless Networks: Standards,
Technologies and 5G
Dr. Radhika M. Hirannaiah
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
radhikam@pes.edu
 Emergency Exit Assembly Point Washroom

No Chatting Phones on silent No Sleeping

Department of CSE
Introduction to Wireless Fundamentals

Unit 1 – Part 2

CISFCR
ISFCR Executive
- Department
Education
of CSE
IEEE 802.11 Protocol

CISFCR
ISFCR Executive
- Department
Education
of CSE
IEEE 802.11 Protocol Stack

CISFCR - Department of CSE

IEEE 802.11 Protocol Stack
☞ Deals with the two lowest layers of the OSI reference model, the physical
layer and the Data Link layer (or Media Access Control layer).
☞ Goal for all the 802.11 series of standards is to be backward compatible
and to be compatible at the Medium Access Control (MAC) or Data Link
layer.
☞ Physical layer functions are:
• Encoding/Decoding of signal
• Preamble generation/removal (for synchronization - set of symbols
that help the receiver establish a connection with the sender)
• Bit transmission/reception

CISFCR - Department of CSE

IEEE 802.11 Protocol Stack
☞ Functions of medium access control (MAC) layer:
• On transmission, assemble data into a frame with address and
error detection fields
• On reception, disassemble frame and perform address
recognition and error detection
• Govern access to the LAN transmission medium
☞ Functions of logical link control (LLC) Layer:
• Provide an interface to higher layers and perform flow and error
control

CISFCR - Department of CSE

IEEE 802.11 Protocol Stack
☞ Separation of LLC and MAC: The logic required to manage access to a
shared-access medium not found in traditional layer 2 data link
control
• For the same LLC, several MAC options may be provided
☞ LLC, like all link layers, concerned with the transmission of a link-
level PDU between two stations, without any necessary
intermediate switching node.
☞ Characteristics of LLC not shared by other control protocols:
• Must support multiaccess, shared-medium nature of the link
• Relieved of some details of link access by MAC layer
CISFCR - Department of CSE
IEEE 802.11 WLAN – Data Frame Format

Address 3: MAC address of router interface

to which AP is attached
CISFCR - Department of CSE
802.11 frame: addressing

CISFCR - Department of CSE

Standard Versions in ISO layers

CISFCR - Department of CSE

IEEE 802.11 WLAN
Three services related to deliver a message within Distributed System, where the
station must maintain association within its current BSS
☞ Association : Establishes an initial association between a station and an AP.
Before a station can transmit or receive frames on a wireless LAN, its identity and
address must be known. For this purpose, a station must establish an association
with an AP within a particular BSS. The AP can then communicate this
information to other APs within the ESS to facilitate routing and delivery of
addressed frames.
☞ Re-association : Enables an established association to be transferred from one
AP to another, allowing a mobile station to move from one BSS to another.
☞ Disassociation : A notification from either a station or an AP that an existing
association is terminated. A station should give this notification before leaving an
ESS or shutting down. However, the MAC management facility protects itself
against stations that disappear without notification.

CISFCR - Department of CSE

Wi-Fi Operation

CISFCR - Department of CSE 14

Wi-Fi Operation
☞ Access Points (APs) periodically broadcast a beacon with SSID
(service set ID).
☞ Subscriber stations listen to these beacons, measure signal
strength and determine which AP to join.
☞ Subscribers can also send a “Probe” to find AP’s in the
neighborhood.
☞ AP authenticates the subscriber station using shared keys.
☞ Subscriber stations and AP exchange encrypted packets.
☞ Subscriber station send a “Disassociate” message and log off

CISFCR - Department of CSE 15

Multiple Access Methods

CISFCR
ISFCR Executive
- Department
Education
of CSE
Multiple Access Methods: Channel Partitioning MAC
protocols
☞ Method of creating multiple channels for each transmission direction.
☞ Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA):
● gives users an individual allocation of one or several frequency bands or channels.
● channel spectrum divided into frequency bands
● each station assigned fixed frequency band
● unused transmission time in frequency bands go idle
● example: 6-station LAN, 1,3,4 have packet to send, frequency bands 2,5,6 idle
● it is a basic technology in the analog advanced mobile phone service (AMPS)

frequency bands
time

FDM cable

CISFCR - Department of CSE

Multiple Access Methods: Channel Partitioning MAC
protocols
☞ Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
● A channel access method for shared medium networks, to channel in “rounds”
● Allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time
slots.
● Users transmit in rapid succession, one after the other, using its own time slot, allowing multiple
stations to share the same transmission medium (RF channel) while using only a part of its channel
capacity.
● each station gets fixed length slot (length = packet transmission time) in each round, unused slots go
idle
● example: 6-station LAN, 1,3,4 have packets to send, slots 2,5,6 idle
● Used in digital 2G cellular systems such as GSM, personal digital cellular (PDC), digital-enhanced
cordless telecommunications standard for portable phones
6-slot 6-slot
frame frame

1 3 4 1 3 4

CISFCR - Department of CSE

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
☞ A form of multiplexing where the transmitter encodes the signal using a pseudorandom sequence
that the receiver also knows and can use to decode the received signal.
☞ Each different random sequence corresponds to a different communication channel and
transmits using full bandwidth.
☞ Each bit being sent is encoded by multiplying the bit by a signal (the code) that changes at a much
faster rate (known as the chipping rate) than the original sequence of data bits
☞ unique “code” assigned to each user; i.e., code set partitioning
☞ all users share same frequency, but each user has own “chipping” sequence (i.e., code) to encode data
☞ allows multiple users to “coexist” and transmit simultaneously with minimal interference (if codes are
“orthogonal”)

☞ Encoding: inner product: (original data) X (chipping sequence)

☞ Decoding: summed inner-product: (encoded data) X (chipping sequence)
☞ Ex: Mobile phone standards like IS-95 or wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) uses this technique.
CISFCR - Department of CSE
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

☞ OFDM is a transmission technique, implemented in broadband wireless

access systems.
☞ Introduced to overcome wireless transmission problems and to improve
bandwidth.
☞ OFDM is a multicarrier modulation (MCM) scheme in which many parallel
data streams are transmitted at the same time over a channel, with each
transmitting only a small part of the total data rate.
☞ With OFDM, a high-speed digital message is divided into a large number of
separate carrier waves. The receiving system reconstructs the message
from the separate carriers.
☞ OFDM is a coding and transport scheme whereas CDMA is a coding scheme.
CISFCR - Department of CSE
OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access)
☞ OFDMA is essentially a type of OFDM, where OFDM uses three transmission principles, multi-rate, multi-symbol, and
multicarrier.
☞ OFDM is similar to frequency division multiplexing (FDM), distributes the data over a large number of carriers that are
spaced apart at precise frequencies.
☞ The spacing provides the orthogonality in this technique, which prevents the demodulator from seeing frequencies
other than their own.
☞ It allocates in both the time domain and the frequency domain, allowing for multiple users—even those with widely
varying use patterns or data loads. By comparison, OFDM can allocate only sequentially.
☞ Divides a Wi-Fi channel into smaller frequency allocations, called resource units (RUs). An access point can
communicate with multiple clients by assigning them to specific RUs.
☞ OFDMA technology can be applied anywhere data is sent along radio waves, including the:
• Mobility mode of the IEEE 802.16 wireless standard known as WiMAX
• Wireless LAN (WLAN) standard IEEE 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6)
• IEEE 802.20 mobile wireless metropolitan-area network (WMAN) standard
• Downlink of the 3GPP Long-Term Evolution (LTE) fourth-generation mobile broadband standard (4G)

CISFCR - Department of CSE

“Taking turns” MAC protocols
☞ Channel partitioning MAC protocols:
☞ share channel efficiently and fairly at high load
☞ inefficient at low load: delay in channel access, 1/N bandwidth allocated even
if only 1 active node!
☞ Random access MAC protocols
☞ efficient at low load: single node can fully utilize channel
☞ high load: collision overhead
☞ “Taking turns” protocols
☞ look for best of both worlds!

CISFCR - Department of CSE

“Taking turns” MAC protocols

Polling:
☞ centralized controller “invites”
other nodes to transmit in turn data

☞
poll
typically used with “dumb” devices
☞ concerns: data
centralized
controller
☞ polling overhead

☞ latency
client devices
☞ single point of failure (master)

☞ Bluetooth uses polling

CISFCR - Department of CSE

“Taking turns” MAC protocols
Token Passing: T

☞ control token message explicitly

passed from one node to next,
sequentially (nothing
to send)
• transmit while holding token
T
☞ concerns:
• Token overhead
• Latency
• single point of failure (token)
data

CISFCR - Department of CSE

Physical Layer Standards
Some of the key organizations:
☞ The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
☞ The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
☞ The American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
☞ The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
☞ The Electronics Industry Alliance/Telecommunications
Industry Association (EIA/TIA)
☞ National telecommunications authorities such as the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States

CISFCR - Department of CSE

IEEE 802.11 - Physical Media
Three Physical Media (spread spectrum) are defined in the original 802.11 standard:
☞ Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) – operating in 2.4GHz ISM band, at data rates of
1Mbps and 2Mbps.
● Type of spread spectrum technology in which the transmitted signal is spread across
multiple frequency bands.
● The data to be transmitted is first encoded using a “chip code.” The chip code
(pseudorandom binary sequence) is used to modulate the carrier signal, spreading the
transmitted signal across multiple frequency bands. The receiver uses the same chip code
to demodulate the received signal, allowing it to recover the original data.
● In the United States, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) requires no licensing
for the use of this band.
● The number of channels available depends on the bandwidth allocated by the various
national regulatory agencies. (13 in European countries, 1 available channel in Japan)
● Upto 3 non-overlapping channels, uses encoding scheme for modulation DBPSK
(differential binary phase shift keying) for 1Mbps and DQPSK (differential quadrature
phase shift keying) for 2Mbps rate.
CISFCR - Department of CSE
IEEE 802.11 - Physical Media
☞ Frequency-hoping spread spectrum (FHSS) – operating in 2.4GHz ISM band, at data rates of
1Mbps and 2Mbps. The number of channels available ranges from 23 in Japan to 70 in the US.
• Wireless communication technique where the carrier frequency rapidly changes among
many frequencies within a large spectral band. This frequency hopping is controlled by a
code known to both the transmitter and receiver.
• FHSS is a type of multiplexing, which allows multiple signals to be transmitted
simultaneously over a shared channel.
• Single hopping from one channel to another, for modulation scheme uses two level
Gaussian FSK for 1Mbps and 4 level GFSK for 2Mbps.
☞ Infrared – at 1Mbps and 2Mbps operating at a wavelength between 850 and 950nm. It is
omnidirectional.
• It was designed for low-cost transceivers, but can also interoperate with higher-
performance systems.
• Uses pulse position modulation (PPM) for encoding. 16PPM for 1Mbps data rate and 4PPM
for 2Mbps data rate. (Obsolete now)

CISFCR - Department of CSE

Wireless Link Characteristics
☞ Fading (Attenuation) – Wireless radio signal attenuates (loses power) as it
propagates (free space “path loss”). This decreases signal strength as the
distance between sender and receiver increases.

Free space path loss ~ (fd)2

f: frequency
d: distance

higher frequency or larger free space

longer distance path loss

CISFCR - Department of CSE

Wireless Link Characteristics
Interference from other sources:
☞ Radio sources transmitting in the same frequency band will interfere
with each other.
☞ For example, 2.4 GHz wireless phones and 802.11b wireless LANs
transmit in the same frequency band. Thus, the 802.11b wireless
LAN user talking on a 2.4 GHz wireless phone can expect that neither
the network nor the phone will perform particularly well. In addition
to interference from transmitting sources, electromagnetic noise
within the environment (e.g., a nearby motor, a microwave) can
result in interference. For this reason, a number of more recent
802.11 standards operate in the 5GHz frequency band.

CISFCR - Department of CSE

Wireless Link Characteristics
☞ Multipath Propagation: radio signal reflects off objects ground, built environment, arriving at
destination at slightly different times.
☞ This results in the blurring of the received signal at the receiver. Moving objects between the sender
and receiver can cause multipath propagation to change over time.
☞ Coherence time: amount of time bit is present in channel to be received
• influences maximum possible transmission rate, since coherence times can not overlap
• inversely proportional to – frequency and receiver velocity
transmitted
pulses
time
reflected path
received received
received multipath received multipath
LOS pulse pulses LOS pulse pulses

received
pulse line of sight reflected path
time
(LOS) path
Tc: coherence time

CISFCR - Department of CSE

Wireless Link Characteristics
Noise 10-1

☞ interference from other sources on

10-2
wireless network frequencies: motors,
appliances 10-3

☞ SNR: signal-to-noise ratio

BER
10-4

• larger SNR – easier to extract signal 10-5

from noise (a “good thing”)
☞
10-6
SNR versus BER (bit error rate) tradeoff
• given physical layer: increase power - 10-7
10 20
SNR(dB)
30 40

> increase SNR->decrease BER

• SNR may change with mobility: QAM256 (8 Mbps)

dynamically adapt physical layer QAM16 (4 Mbps)

(modulation technique, rate) BPSK (1 Mbps)

CISFCR - Department of CSE

802.11: Advanced Capabilities

Rate adaptation
10-1
10-2 ☞ base station, mobile dynamically
B 10-3
E 10-4
change transmission rate (physical
R -5
10
layer modulation technique) as
10-6 mobile moves, SNR varies
● SNR decreases, BER increase as
10-7
10 20 30 40
SNR(dB) node moves away from base
QAM256 (8 Mbps)
station
QAM16 (4 Mbps)
BPSK (1 Mbps)
operating point
● When BER becomes too high,
switch to lower transmission
rate but with lower BER

CISFCR - Department of CSE

802.11: Advanced Capabilities
Power Management
§ Power is a precious resource in mobile devices, and thus the 802.11
standard provides power-management capabilities that allow 802.11 nodes
to minimize the amount of time that their sense, transmit, and receive
functions and other circuitry need to be “on.”
§ Node-to-AP: “I am going to sleep until next beacon frame”
• AP knows not to transmit frames to this node (will buffer any frames
destined for the sleeping host for later transmission)
• node wakes up before next beacon frame
§ Beacon frame: contains list of mobiles with AP-to-mobile frames waiting to
be sent
• node will stay awake if AP-to-mobile frames to be sent; otherwise sleep
again until next beacon frame
CISFCR - Department of CSE
 Thank you!

Follow us

isfcr.pesu www.isfcr.pes.edu ISFCR