Lecture 3.0 Introduction to 802.11 Wireless Lans
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Lecture 3.0 Introduction to 802.11 Wireless LANs Quote from Matthew Gast - 802.11® Wireless Networks The Definitive Guide – apr. 2005, 2nd edition At this point, there is no way to prevent the spread of Wi-Fi. In the years since the first edition of [his] book, wireless networking has gone from an interesting toy to a must-have technology. […] [Wireless networking] seems poised to continue its march towards the standard method of network connection, replacing "Where's the network jack?" with "Do you have Wi-Fi?" as the question to ask about network access. Giuseppe Bianchi WLAN history Original goal: Deploy “wireless Ethernet” First generation proprietary solutions (end ’80, begin ’90): WaveLAN (AT&T) HomeRF (Proxim) Abandoned by major chip makers (e.g. Intel: dismissed HomeRF in april 2001) IEEE 802.11 Committee formed in 1990 Charter: specification of MAC and PHY for WLAN First standard: june 1997 1 and 2 Mbps operation Reference standard: september 1999 Multiple Physical Layers Two operative Industrial, Scientific & Medical (ISM) shared unlicensed band » 2.4 GHz: Legacy; 802.11b/g » 5 GHz: 802.11a 1999: Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) certification Later on named Wi-Fi Boosted 802.11 deployment!! Giuseppe Bianchi 1 WLAN data rates Legacy 802.11 Work started in 1990; standardized in 1997 1 mbps & 2 mbps Standard Transfer Freq. Data The 1999 revolution: PHY layer Method Band Rates impressive achievements Mbps 802.11a: PHY for 5 GHz 802.11 legacy FHSS, 2.4 GHz, 1, 2 published in 1999 DSSS, IR Products available since early 2002 IR 802.11b: higher rate PHY for 2.4 GHz 802.11b DSSS, 2.4 GHz 1, 2, 5.5, Published in 1999 HR- 11 Products available since 1999 DSSS Interoperability tested (wifi) "802.11b+" DSSS, 2.4 GHz 1, 2, 5.5, non-standard HR- 11, 2003: extend 802.11b DSSS, 22, 33, (PBCC) 802.11g: OFDM for 2.4 GHz 44 802.11a OFDM 5.2, 5.5 6, 9, 12, Published in june 2003 GHz 18, 24, Products available, though no extensive 36, 48, interoperability testing yet 54 Backward compatibility with 802.11b Wi-Fi 802.11g DSSS, 2.4 GHz 1, 2, 5.5, HR- 11; 6, 9, DSSS, 12, 18, Ongoing standardization effort: 802.11n OFDM 24, 36, Launched in september 2003 48, 54 Minimum goal: 108 Mbps (but higher numbers considered) Giuseppe Bianchi Why multiple rates ? “Adaptive ” (?) coding /modulation Example: 802.11a case Giuseppe Bianchi 2 PHY distance /rate tradeoffs (open office) 140.0 5 GHz OFDM (.11a) 120.0 2.4 GHz OFDM (.11g) 100.0 2.4 GHz (.11b) 80.0 60.0 Distance (m) 40.0 20.0 0.0 1Mbps 5.5Mbps 6Mbps 11Mbps 12Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 54Mbps Giuseppe Bianchi Coverage performance Cisco Aironet 350 Access Point 11 Mb/s DSS from ~30 to ~45 mt 5.5 Mb/s DSS from ~45 to ~76 mt Configurable TX power: 50, 30, 20, 5, 1 mW 2 Mb/s DSS (100 mW outside Europe) from ~76 to ~107 mt Greater TX power, faster battery consumptions! Question: how to select transmission rate? (STA does not explicitly know its distance from AP) More later (implementation-dependent ☺) Giuseppe Bianchi 3 WLAN NIC addresses Same as Ethernet NIC 48 bits = 2 + 46 802 IEEE Ethernet & WLAN addresses do coexist 48 bit addresses undistinguishable, in a same (Layer-2) network role of typical AP = bridge 1 bit = individual/group » (to be precise: when the AP act as “portal” in 802.11 1 bit = universal/local nomenclature) 46 bit address C:>arp -a 192.168.1.32 00-0a-e6-f8-03-ad dinamico 192.168.1.43 00-06-6e-00-32-1a dinamico 192.168.1.52 00-82-00-11-22-33 dinamico AP AP 192.168.1.43 192.168.1.32 00:06:6e:00:32:1a 192.168.1.52 00:0a:e6:f8:03:ad 00:82:00:11:22:33 Giuseppe Bianchi Protocol stack 802.11: “just” another 802 link layer ☺ DATA LINK LAYER LLC 802.2 Logical Link Control LLC sublayer 802 802.1 overview management 802.3 … 802.11 MAC DATA LINK LAYER & & MAC MAC sublayer architectureMAC bridging … … 802.3 … 802.11 802.11 802.11a 802.11b 802.11g PHY FSSS PHY DSSS PHY OFDM PHY HR-DSSS Extended PHYSICAL LAYER … PHY Rate PHY Giuseppe Bianchi 4 802.11 MAC Data Frame MAC header: - 28 bytes (24 header + 4 FCS) or - 34 bytes (30 header + 4 FCS) PHY IEEE 802.11 Data 0 - 2312 FCS Frame Duration Sequence Frame Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Address 4 Data check Control / ID Control sequence 2 2 6 6 6 26 0-2312 4 Protocol Fragment Type Sub Type info Sequence number version number 2 2 12 4 12 To From More Pwr More Sub Type Retry WEP Order DS DS Frag MNG Data 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 DETAILS AND EXPLANATION LATER ON Giuseppe Bianchi Encapsulation 802.11 MAC frame: no “type” field (such as Ethernet II)!! LLC encapsulation mandatory Identical To 802.3/LLC encapsulation Giuseppe Bianchi 5 Why Ethernet Tunnel? (just needed in very special cases : IPX, AARP) DESC SRC Len AA AA 03 00.00.00 Type P ETH/802.11 bridge Some protocols DESC SRC Type P ????? 802.11/ETH MUST have this bridge Encapsulation: -Novell IPX DESC SRC Len AA AA 03 00.00.00 Type P (Type 0x8137) - Apple-Talk ARP (Type 0x80F3) Giuseppe Bianchi Handling 802.11 frames STA Ethernet-like driver AP interface Radio PC-Card supports virtually all protocol stacks PC-Card Radio PC-Card Radio PC-Card Hardware Hardware Radio Hardware Hardware Maximum Data limited to 1500 Hardware Hardware octets Hardware Hardware 802.11 frame format 802.11 frame format WMAC controller with WMAC controller with WMAC controller with WMAC controller with Station Firmware Frame translation Access Point Firmware Station Firmware Access Point Firmware (WNIC-STA) (WNIC-AP) (WNIC-STA) IEEE Std 802.1H (WNIC-AP) IEEE 802.3 frames: translated to 802.11 802.3 frame format 802.3 frame format Ethernet Types 8137 (Novell Bridge Platform IPX) and 80F3 (AARP) Driver Bridge Driver Platform Driver Driver Computer encapsulated via Ethernet Software Software Software Computer Software Software Software Tunnel (APDr) (STADr) (APDr) (STADr) All other Ethernet Types: Ethernet V2.0 / 802.3 encapsulated via RFC 1042 Ethernet V2.0 / 802.3 frame format SNAP frame format Protocol Stack Kernel Software (APK) Protocol Stack Kernel Software (APK) Ethernet Transparent bridging to Ethernet Bridge Interface Bridge Ethernet Interface HardwareHardware Giuseppe Bianchi 6 Lecture 3.1 802.11 Network Architecture And related addressing Giuseppe Bianchi Basic Service Set (BSS) group of stations that can communicate with each other Infrastructure BSS Independent BSS (IBSS) or, simply, BSS Stations communicate directly Stations connected through AP with each other Typically interconnetted to a Smallest possible IBSS: 2 STA (wired) network infrastructure IBSS set up for a specific purpose and for short time (e.g. meeting) That’s why they are also called ad hoc networks Network infrastructure AP Giuseppe Bianchi 7 Frame Forwarding in a BSS Network infrastructure AP BSS: AP = relay function IBSS: direct communication No direct communication allowed! between all pairs of STAs Giuseppe Bianchi Why AP = relay function ? Management: Mobile stations do NOT neet to maintain neighbohr relationship with other MS in the area But only need to make sure they remain properly associated to the AP Association = get connected to (equivalent to plug-in a wire to a bridge ☺) Power Saving: APs may assist MS in their power saving functions by buffering frames dedicated to a (sleeping) MS when it is in PS mode Obvious disadvantage: use channel bandwidth twice… Giuseppe Bianchi 8 Addressing in IBSS (ad hoc) SA DA Frame Duration Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Sequence Data FCS Control / ID DA SA BSSID Control SA = Source Address DA = Destination Address BSSID = Basic Service Set IDentifier used for filtering frames at reception (does the frame belong to OUR cell?) format: 6 bytes random MAC address with Universal/Local bit set to 1 Giuseppe Bianchi Addressing in a BSS? AP SA X DA Giuseppe Bianchi 9 Addressing in a BSS! Distribution system AP SA DA Frame must carry following info: 1) Destined to DA 2) But through the AP What is the most general addressing structure? Giuseppe Bianchi Addressing in a BSS ( to AP) Distribution system AP Address 2 = wireless Tx Address 1 = wireless Rx BSSID Address 3 = dest BSSID = AP MAC address SA DA Frame Duration Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Sequence Data FCS Control / ID BSSID SA DA Control 1 0 Protocol To From More Pwr More Type Sub Type Retry WEP Order version DS DS Frag MNG Data 2 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Giuseppe Bianchi 10 Addressing in a BSS ( from AP) Distribution system AP Address 2 = wireless Tx Address 1 = wireless Rx BSSID Address 3 = src SA DA Frame Duration Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Sequence Data FCS Control / ID DA BSSID SA Control 0 1 Protocol To From More Pwr More Type Sub Type Retry WEP Order version DS DS Frag MNG Data 2 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Giuseppe Bianchi From AP: do we really need 3 addresses ? Distribution system AP BSSID SA DA DA correctly receives frame, and send 802.11 ACK to … BSSID (wireless transmitted) DA correctly receives frame, and send higher level ACK to … SA (actual transmitter) Giuseppe Bianchi 11 Extended Service Set BSS1 AP1 BSS2 BSS3 BSS4 AP2 AP3 AP4 ESS: created by merging different BSS through a network infrastructure (possibly overlapping BSS – to offer a continuous coverage area) Stations within ESS MAY communicate each other via Layer 2 procedures APs acting as bridges MUST be on a same LAN or switched LAN or VLAN (no routers in between) Giuseppe Bianchi Service Set IDentifier (SSID) IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN management frame name of the WLAN Fixed parameters (12 bytes) network Timestamp: 0x00000109EAB69185 Beacon Interval: 0,102400 [Seconds] Plain text (ascii), up to 32 char Capability Information: 0x0015 ...