WiFi Basics

By: Dr Shree Om
oms@ub.ac.bw
Overview
• IEEE 802.11 Features
• IEEE 802.11 Physical Layers
• IEEE 802.11 MAC
• IEEE 802.11 Architecture
• Frame Format
• Power Management
 WiFi vs IEEE 802.11
• Both IEEE 802.11 and WiFi basically refer to wireless LANs.
• There is, however, a subtle difference between them.
• 802.11 is an IEEE standard for wireless LANs.
• To satisfy a large number of different vendors contributing to the standardization
process, 802.11 specification comes with many different options to implement.
• This raises a practical interoperability issue if different vendors choose to implement
different options of the same 802.11 standard.
• To overcome the potential interoperability problem of 802.11, an industry alliance was
formed, called Wireless Fidelity or WiFi Alliance.
• This alliance is committed to a selected set of options which all members will
implement, essentially guaranteeing the ultimate interoperability that was envisaged
by IEEE 802.11.
WiFi vs IEEE 802.11
• Any product displaying the WiFi logo is guaranteed to work with any
other product displaying the same, irrespective of who manufactures
them.
IEEE Standards Numbering System
• IEEE has a peculiar numbering system for all its standards. Anyone trying to follow
the IEEE standards for wireless LANs must be familiar with this numbering
system.
WiFi Alliance numbers and their
corresponding IEEE standards
IEEE 802.11 Features
• The original 802.11 standard in 1997 specified only 1 and 2 Mbps.
• Newer versions offered successively higher speeds at 11 Mbps, 54 Mbps, 108 Mbps, 200 Mbps, and so on.
• All these versions were specified for ‘license-exempt’ or license-free’ spectrum, i.e., spectrum which we are
not required to be licensed by law.
• When the spectrum is license-exempt, a technology is required to prevent spectrum hogging.
• 802.11 employs spread spectrum techniques at the physical layer to solve the hogging problem.
• Uses either Direct Sequence (DS) spread spectrum or Frequency Hopping spread spectrum.
• 802.11 specifies a third physical layer, called Diffused Infrared, to be used with the infrared band in 850-900 nm.
• 802.11 supports multiple priorities to deliver both time-critical, such as voice, and data traffic over the same
LAN infrastructure.
• It also supports power management, which enables nodes to go to sleep mode when there is no traffic to
conserve power
ISM Bands
WiFi Bands
IEEE 802.11 Channels
• WiFi bands are divided into separate channels to facilitate better management of congestion when multiple wireless
LANs operate in close proximity.
• Two different LANs then can simply choose to operate in two different channels of the same band and yet avoid
collisions and interference from each other.
• Each channel is usually 20 or 22 MHz wide.
• WiFi operating in the 2.4 GHz band uses 22 MHz channels, while 5 GHz band uses 20 MHz channels.
• With newer WiFi versions, it is possible to combine two or more channels to get a wider channel for higher data rates.
• 2.4 GHz WiFi has a total of 14 channels although not all channels are available in all countries.
• 5 GHz WiFi has 20 MHz non-overlapping channels.
• 5 GHz uses two types of channels. One type of channels is always available, while the others are actually shared with
radars using a Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) algorithm.
• With DFS, 5 GHz WiFi APs monitor radar channels and immediately vacate them, i.e., switch to another channel, if
radar is detected in the operating channel.
• User devices connected to such radar channels then will also need to switch to the new channel, which may cause
momentary connection drop.
Channel frequencies for 2.4 GHz WiFi.
Physical Layers
• The physical layer technology directly affects the data rate achievable with WiFi.
• In the first version defined in 1997, spread spectrum was used to achieve only 1
and 2 Mbps, which was soon proved to be too slow for the emerging LAN
applications.
• Two years later, in 1999, an advanced version of spread spectrum was introduced
for 2.4 GHz, while OFDM was introduced for the 5-GHz band to increase the data
rate to 54 Mbps.
• In 2003, OFDM was also successfully used in 2.4 GHz to achieve 54 Mbps
channels, which was named 802.11g.
• OFDM has proved so successful that it still defines the physical layer standard for
today’s WiFi.
Hidden Node Problem
• Wireless LAN suffers from a specific collision detection problem
called hidden node problem.
• Let’s consider the three wireless nodes, A, B, and C, as shown in
Fig
• Let us assume that A can hear B, B can hear C, but C cannot hear
A.
• Now, C may start transmitting to B while A is also transmitting to B.
• Collisions will be experienced at B, making it difficult for B to
understand either of the communications.
• Unfortunately, the transmitters A and C cannot detect the
collision.
• Wireless LANs therefore use collision avoidance (CA) to avoid
collision
Collision Avoidance with 4-way Handshake
IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC)
• To completely realize the medium access control (MAC), the 4-way handshake must work in
conjunction with the carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) function.
• CSMA basically says that a wireless node must first listen to the channel before even
attempting the 4-way handshake and backoff for a random period if it finds the channel busy.
• The 4-way handshake is launched only if the channel is found idle.
• The RTS and CTS packets contain the duration of the data packet, which allows other nodes
who hear the CTS to stay away from attempting channel sensing.
• Finally, to achieve reliability, the transmitter must retransmit the data packet if it does not
receive the ACK from the receiver.
IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC)
- IEEE 802.11 Priorities
• Wireless LAN has different priorities for control and data packets.
• These priorities are achieved by enforcing different amounts of inter-frame space (IFS) as shown in Fig.
• After the channel busy period ends, the RTS, CTS, and ACK packets can be transmitted by waiting only a
short IFS (SIFS), but medium priority time-critical frames, such as those used for periodic channel
reservation in Point Coordination Function (PCF) mode, will have to wait slightly longer than SIFS.
• Finally, the data frames, which use Distributed Coordination Function (DCF), will wait a bit more before
attempting transmission.
IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC)
- Time Critical Services
• The wireless LAN base station uses PCF to achieve a contention-free period (CFP) to allow transmission
of data from time-critical services.
• The base station periodically transmits a beacon and then, using a polling frame, grants one node to
access the channel without any contention.
• During the CFP, no other nodes will attempt accessing the channel.
• The duration of CFP will vary with the load of the time critical data.
• The channel will be opened for contention as soon as the PCF ends.
• Thus, the channel access alternates between PCF and DCF as shown in Fig.
IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC)
- IEEE 802.11 DCF Backoff
• For effective sharing of the channel with many users, DCF uses a sophisticated backoff mechanism to
prevent a node from hogging the channel.
• Each node maintains a FIFO (first in first out) queue to store the data packets to be transmitted.
• For transmitting the head of the queue, the node implements the DCF backoff mechanism, which
requires three variables—Contention Window (CW), Backoff Count (BO), and Network Allocation Vector
(NAV), to be maintained.
• If a frame (RTS, CTS, Data, Ack) is heard, NAV is set to the duration in that frame. Nodes are allowed to
sense the media only after NAV expires. NAV therefore is basically a timer that prevents a node from
even sensing the channel if the node has explicit knowledge about the future busy time of the channel.
• If the medium is idle for DIFS, and backoff (BO) is not already active, the node draws a random BO in [0,
CW] and sets the backoff timer.
• The node can only start transmission if the channel continues to be idle during this backoff time. If the
medium becomes busy during backoff, the timer is paused and a new NAV is set. After NAV, i.e., when
the channel becomes idle again, the backoff continues from the previous BO value.
IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC)
- IEEE 802.11 DCF Backoff
• Because collisions can still occur after transmission, each transmitted packet is acknowledged by the
receiver.
• DCF backoff time increases exponentially with successive failed (unsuccessful) transmission attempts,
i.e., when no ACK is received, to make it more effective during heavy load.
• Initially and after each successful transmission (ACK is received), it sets CW = CWmin.
• Then after each unsuccessful attempt: CW = min{2CW + 1, CWmax}.
• It should be noted that CW is in units of slot time varying with 802.11 standards, as shown in Table (next
slide).
• We also have PIFS = SIFS + 1 slot time and DIFS = SIFS + 2 slot time.
IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) -
Slot time and MAC parameters for WiFi standards.
Virtual Carrier Sense
• Continuous carrier sensing for a prolonged period of time can drain the batteries of wireless nodes.
• To avoid unnecessary carrier sensing, WiFi uses virtual carrier sensing using the NAV parameter.
• This is possible because every frame has a Duration ID field which indicates how long the medium will be
busy for transmitting this frame. Table shows how this duration is calculated for different types of
frames.
DCF Example (Part 1)
• Figure shows an example of how DCF works, where A, D, C, and R, represent ACK, Data, CTS, and RTS,
respectively, and Table (next slide) traces the events at different points in time.
DCF Example (Part 2)
• Table traces the events at different points in time of the DCF example in the previous side.
IEEE 802.11 Architecture
• Figure (next slide) shows how the various elements of WiFi networks are connected to each other. The
architecture has the following elements:
• Basic Service Set (BSS): Set of all nodes associated with one AP. Like the ‘cell ID’ in cellular networks,
each BSS is identified with a unique Service Set ID (SSID), which is usually the 48-bit MAC address of the
AP.
• Distribution System (DS): A system of multiple APs connected together via a wired backbone. Usually the
wired backbone is made from Ethernet and is hidden against ceiling or other infrastructure, so it is not
visible to public.
• Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS): Set ofnodes connecting independently in ad-hoc mode without
being connected to the WiFi infrastructure. Ad-hoc networks coexist and interoperate with
infrastructure-based networks.
IEEE 802.11 Architecture
IEEE 802.11 Frame Format
• There are a total of nine main fields in the frame as explained below:
• Frame Control: A 16-bit field that defines many control functions for the frame, which will be described
later.
• Duration/ID: A 16-bit field that follows the Frame Control field. If used as duration field, it indicates the
time in micro seconds the channel will be allocated for successful transmission of MAC frame, which
includes time until the end of Ack. In some control frames, it contains association or connection
identifier.
• Adr 1/2/3/4: These are 48-bit address fields. It is interesting to see that WiFi uses four address fields,
while most other networks, such as Ethernet, use only two. Use of four address fields will be explained
later.
• Seq Control: It is a 16-bit field. Its main function is to number frames between a pair of transmitter and
receiver, using 12 bits and manage fragmentation and reassembly, using a 4-bit fragment sub-field.
• Info: The field that carried user data or payload.
• CRC: 32-bit cyclic redundancy check to detect frame errors.
IEEE 802.11 Frame Format – Frame Control
• The Frame Control field has 11 sub-fields:
• Protocol Version: It provides the version number.
• Type: Control, management, or data.
• Sub-Type: Association, disassociation, re-association, probe, authentication, de-authentication, CTS, RTS, Ack,...
• To DS: Going to Distribution System.
• From DS: Coming from Distribution System.
• More Fragment: Used to indicate whether this is the last fragment or more fragments are following. This helps
with fragment reassembly at the receiver.
• Retry: Whether it is a retransmission or original transmission.
• Power mgt: Node indicating whether it is going to sleep (Power Save mode).
• More Data: Whether there is more buffered data at AP for a station in Power Save mode.
• Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP): Security info in this frame.
• Order: Strict ordering.
IEEE 802.11 Frame Format – Frame Control
• The Frame Control field has 11 sub-fields:
• Protocol Version: It provides the version number.
• Type: Control, management, or data.
• Sub-Type: Association, disassociation, re-association, probe, authentication, de-authentication, CTS, RTS, Ack,...
• To DS: Going to Distribution System.
• From DS: Coming from Distribution System.
• More Fragment: Used to indicate whether this is the last fragment or more fragments are following. This helps
with fragment reassembly at the receiver.
• Retry: Whether it is a retransmission or original transmission.
• Power mgt: Node indicating whether it is going to sleep (Power Save mode).
• More Data: Whether there is more buffered data at AP for a station in Power Save mode.
• Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP): Security info in this frame.
• Order: Strict ordering.
IEEE 802.11 Frame Format
802.11 Power Management
• Extending the battery life of portable devices is one of the main challenges of wireless networks.
• As the battery technology itself is not advancing fast, mechanisms must be devised to let the device
sleep as much as possible and wake up only when it needs to transmit or receive.
• If there are no packets to be received, a receiver could go to sleep and save battery power. To facilitate
this kind of power saving (PS), WiFi has a power management function.
• To invoke the power management function, the node uses the Power Management bit in the frame
control header to indicate to the AP that it is going to sleep.
• Upon receiving this information, the AP buffers all packets for this node. When the node wakes up, it
waits for the beacon packet periodically sent by the AP. In the beacon packet, Traffic Indication Map
(TIM) is a structure used by the AP to indicate which nodes has packets buffered.
• If a node sees its bit turned on in the TIM, it does not go back to sleep. Instead, it sends a PS-Poll
message to the AP and waits for the packet from the AP. The AP then sends one frame with buffered
data and sets the More Data bit in the header if more data is waiting in the buffer. The client does not go
back to sleep after receiving one frame if ‘More’ is set.
Wikipedia Links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_LAN
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_access_method
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-sequence_spread_spectrum
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_Coordination_Function
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier_sense_multiple_access
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_Access_with_Collision_Avoidance_for_Wireless
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_frame
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11_(legacy_mode)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11_RTS/CTS
Wikipedia Links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Coordination_Function
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_set_(802.11_network)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Alliance
Homework
• List and briefly define IEEE 802.11 services.
• How is the concept of an association related to that of mobility?
• What is the difference between a single- cell and a multiple- cell WLAN?
• What characteristics of a wireless LAN present unique security challenges not found in wired LANs?
• Compare and contrast the two standards of gigabit Wi-Fi. What are the likely ways in which 802.11ad
can be useful?