Wireless LAN

Agenda
 Wireless LAN - Introduction
 802.11 Architecture

 802.11 Physical and MAC layers

 Security in 802.11
 Wireless LAN Introduction
 LAN connection through air as the
medium
 Local Area Network without cabling
 Working Groups / Standards
 IEEE 802.11
 ETSI
 WLAN Components
 Access Port / Base Station – An addressable
station, containing a radio, a wired 802.3
interface and bridging software confirming to
802.11d bridging standard
 Wireless Station – PC equipped with a Wireless
Network Interface Card (NIC)
 802.3 and 802.11 are connected by a device
called Portal performing the function of a
translational bridge. Access Points normally
incorporate the functionality of Portal.
 Access Points in turn could get connected to a
wired/ wireless backbone called the Distribution
System.
WLAN Components
 WLAN Nomenclature
 Modes:
• Infrastructure Mode
• Adhoc Mode
 Topology
• BSS
• IBSS
• EBSS
Infrastructure mode
Adhoc Mode
EBSS
 802.11 architecture
 802.11 LAN is based on Cellular
architecture, where each cell is
controlled by an Access Point (AP) or
Base Station
 802.11 protocols cover the Data Link

Layer (Media Access Control Layer in

particular ) and the Physical Layer in
OSI Architecture Model.
 802.11 architecture
 802.11 defines a single MAC which
interacts with three physical
techniques
Difference in 802.11 over 802.3
 Follows the 7 layer OSI model
architecture
 Changes in the Physical and MAC

layer of the Logical Link Control

 Physical Layer
 Diffused Infra Red Radiation
 Spread Spectrum Techniques

• Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum

• Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
 802.11 Physical Layer
 Diffused Infra Red :
 Indirect and non-Line of Sight
 When emitted from the transmitter,

fills an enclosed area like light, and

does not like line – of – sight
transmission
 Works in a radius of 25 to 35 feet and

a speed of 1 to 2 Mbps
802.11 Physical Layer (Contd.,)
 Spread Spectrum Transmissions:
• A Digital signal is taken and expanded /
spread so as make it appear more like
random background noise rather than a
digital signal transmission
• Coding is done using Frequency Shift
Keying or Phase Shift Keying
• The signal will be unintelligible and
appears as a background noise unless is
the receiver is tuned to correct
parameters
 802.11 Physical Layer (Contd…)
 Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)
 Analogous to FM Transmission as data signal is
superimposed on a narrow band carrier wave
 802.11 standard provides 22 hop patterns or
frequency shifts at 2.5hops/sec
 This modulation protects the signal from interference
that concentrates around one frequency
 To decode the signal the receiver must know the
sequence of the frequency shifts providing security
and encryption
 802.11 MAC Layer
 The MAC protocol simply determines
when a node is allowed to transmit
its packets and typically controls all
access to the physical layer
 MAC protocol is responsible for

allocating the time frequency space

among the mobiles sharing the
wireless channel
 Medium Access Methods
 Access methods
• MAC-DCF CSMA/CA (mandatory)
 collision avoidance via randomized „back-off“
mechanism
 minimum distance between consecutive packets
 ACK packet for acknowledgements (not for
broadcasts)
• MAC-DCF w/ RTS/CTS (optional)
 Distributed Foundation Wireless MAC
 avoids hidden terminal problem
• MAC- PCF (optional)
 access point polls terminals according to a list
 CSMA/CA
 Carrier Sense Multiple Access/ Collision Avoidance
 Each unit senses the medium before it starts to
transmit
 Difference over CSMA/CD
• It does not sense the channel while
transmitting
 Why not CSMA/CD be implemented?
• Implementation of Full duplex will increase overhead
• In wireless environment, we cannot assume that all
stations hear each other
CSMA/CA
 Avoiding packet loss on the air
Reasons for packet loss
• high BER on the air
• collision of packets

How do we avoid packet loss?

• positive acknowledgement
• MAC level retransmissions
• Fragmentation
Hidden node problem

Collision

A B
CSMA/CA
 Point Coordination Function
 Optional functionality
 For the implementation of Time

bound services like voice & video

 Access Point issues polling request to

Wireless Station for data

transmission
 Access Point Access priority to

control the medium access

 Exponential Backoff Algorithm
 To resolve contention between
stations willing to access the medium
 Must be executed

• If the station senses the medium before

the first transmission of a packet, and
the medium is busy
• After each retransmission
• After a successful transmission
 Frame Types
 Data Frames: Frames used for data
transmission
 Control Frames: Frames used to

control access to the medium (eg

RTS, CTS & ACK)
 Management Frames: Frames as

data frames to exchange

management information but not
forwarded to upper layers
 Performance Criteria
 Range
• The distance that can be covered by an
Access Point
 Throughput
• The total amount of data that can be
transferred effectively
Performance Analysis Methods
 Different 802.11 Standards
Types /
Characteristics 802.11a 802.11b 802.11g
Speed 54Mbps 11Mbps 54Mbps

 Frequency 5GHz 2.4GHz 2.4GHz

Approximate Range 100 meters

Modulation OFDM DSSS OFDM

Pros High throughput Low cost High throughput

High cost, Low

Cons range Intereference Interference
 Wireless LAN Performance
Analysis utilities
 Airopeek
 Wireless Sniffer

 NetIQ Chariot
 Wi-Fi
 Wireless Fidelity
 Interoperability among Wireless

Devices
 Other Certifications
 Cisco Certified Extensions CCX 1.0
Cisco Certified Extensions CCX 2.0
 Security
 WEP WireLine Equivalent Privacy
 AES
 Factors affecting throughput
 Partitions
 Presence of multiple
 IEEE 802.11 working groups
 802.11c – Bridge Operation Procedures
 802.11d -
 802.11e – QoS
 802.11f – Interoperability of Access
Points
 802.11g – Relevant Standards for Europe
 802.11j - Relevant Standards for Japan
 802.11n – Increasing speed beyond
11Mbps
 Alternate Technologies
 Bluetooth
 References
 Wireless Communications and
Networks – William Stallings
 Data Over Wireless Networks ,

Bluetooth, WAP & Wireless LANs –

Gil Held
 Technical Tutorial on the IEEE

802.11 protocol – Pablo Brenner

 Thank You