UNIT II WIRELESS NETWORKS :

Wireless access techniques- IEEE 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11e, 802.11n/ac/ax/ay/ba/be, QoS –

Bluetooth – Protocol Stack – Security – Profiles – zigbee

Wireless access techniques:

Multiple Access Techniques

In wireless communication systems, it is often desirable to allow the subscriber to send
information simultaneously from the mobile station to the base station while receiving
information from the base station to the mobile station.
A cellular system divides any given area into cells where a mobile unit in each cell
communicates with a base station. The main aim in the cellular system design is to be
able to increase the capacity of the channel, i.e., to handle as many calls as possible
in a given bandwidth with a sufficient level of quality of service.
There are several different ways to allow access to the channel. These includes mainly
the following −

 Frequency division multiple-access (FDMA)

 Time division multiple-access (TDMA)
 Code division multiple-access (CDMA)
 Space division multiple access (SDMA)

Narrowband Systems
Systems operating with channels substantially narrower than the coherence bandwidth
are called as Narrow band systems. Narrow band TDMA allows users to use the same
channel but allocates a unique time slot to each user on the channel, thus separating a
small number of users in time on a single channel.
Wideband Systems
In wideband systems, the transmission bandwidth of a single channel is much larger
than the coherence bandwidth of the channel. Thus, multipath fading doesn’t greatly
affect the received signal within a wideband channel, and frequency selective fades
occur only in a small fraction of the signal bandwidth.

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

FDMA is the basic technology for advanced mobile phone services. The features of
FDMA are as follows.
  FDMA allots a different sub-band of frequency to each different user to access
the network.
 If FDMA is not in use, the channel is left idle instead of allotting to the other users.
 FDMA is implemented in Narrowband systems and it is less complex than TDMA.
 Tight filtering is done here to reduce adjacent channel interference.
 The base station BS and mobile station MS, transmit and receive simultaneously
and continuously in FDMA.

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

Code division multiple access technique is an example of multiple access where several
transmitters use a single channel to send information simultaneously. Its features are as
follows.

 In CDMA every user uses the full available spectrum instead of getting allotted by
separate frequency.
 CDMA is much recommended for voice and data communications.
 While multiple codes occupy the same channel in CDMA, the users having same code
can communicate with each other.
 CDMA offers more air-space capacity than TDMA.
 The hands-off between base stations is very well handled by CDMA.

Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA)

Space division multiple access or spatial division multiple access is a technique which is
MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) architecture and used mostly in wireless and
satellite communication. It has the following features.

 All users can communicate at the same time using the same channel.
 SDMA is completely free from interference.
 A single satellite can communicate with more satellites receivers of the same frequency.
 The directional spot-beam antennas are used and hence the base station in SDMA, can
track a moving user.
 Controls the radiated energy for each user in space.

Spread Spectrum Multiple Access

Spread spectrum multiple access (SSMA) uses signals which have a transmission
bandwidth whose magnitude is greater than the minimum required RF bandwidth.
There are two main types of spread spectrum multiple access techniques −

 Frequency hopped spread spectrum (FHSS)

 Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)

Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum (FHSS)

This is a digital multiple access system in which the carrier frequencies of the individual
users are varied in a pseudo random fashion within a wideband channel. The digital
data is broken into uniform sized bursts which is then transmitted on different carrier
frequencies.
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
This is the most commonly used technology for CDMA. In DS-SS, the message signal is
multiplied by a Pseudo Random Noise Code. Each user is given his own code word
which is orthogonal to the codes of other users and in order to detect the user, the
receiver must know the code word used by the transmitter.
The combinational sequences called as hybrid are also used as another type of spread
spectrum. Time hopping is also another type which is rarely mentioned.
Since many users can share the same spread spectrum bandwidth without interfering
with one another, spread spectrum systems become bandwidth efficient in a multiple
user environment.
IEEE 802 .11A:
IEEE 802.11a was the first version in the IEEE 802.11 series of Wi-Fi or Wireless Fidelity
system. It defined a Wi-Fi format for providing wireless connectivity in the 5 GHz ISM band to
give raw data speeds of up to 54Mbps.

Although, alphabetically it is the first standard in the 802.11 series, it was released in 1999 at
the same time as IEEE 802.11b which was aimed at connectivity using the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

Using the technology of the time, IEEE 802.11a was more costly and a little more difficult to
implement as it operated at 5 GHz rather than 2.4 GHz and as a result it was less widely used.

Nevertheless, 802.11a provided a very high level of performance for its day, enabling wireless
LAN technology to be implemented and used for the first time in a meaningful way.

As time progressed more devices started to use 802.11a, but when this started to occur, new
versions of the standard like 802.11n appeared which overtook the "a" version. In fact
802.11n was a dual band version of the standard operating on both 2.4 and 5 GHz and
offering data speeds of up to 600 Mbps.

Not surprisingly, 802.11a is rarely used these days and very few devices are operational,
although many modern devices can link to such devices in a legacy mode.

802.11a specification
802.11a boasted an impressive level of performance for its time. It was able to transfer data
with raw data rates up to 54 Mbps and at the time it was thought to have a good range,
although it could not provide the maximum data rate at its extremes.

Even though the raw data rate of 54 Mbps was the headline rate, this was for all the data
being transferred over an ideal link and it included all the management overhead data as well.

In reality the data rates for the payload data itself were much less, and rates achieved were
normally much less than half the headline rate. Nevertheless, the rates were still very good
for the day and way above what other wireless communications systems and wireless
networks could achieve.

It must be remembered that this variant was launched in 1999 when the wireless
communications landscape was very different to what it is today.

PARAMETER VALUE
Date of standard approval July 1999
>Maximum data rate (Mbps) 54
Typical data rate (Mbps) 25
Typical range indoors (Metres) ~30
Modulation OFDM
RF Band (GHz) 5
Number of spatial streams 1
Channel width (MHz) 20
he 802.11a standard uses basic 802.11 concepts as its base, and it operated within the 5GHz
Industrial, Scientific and Medical, ISM, band enabling it to be used worldwide in a licence free band.
The modulation format used was Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) to enable it to
transfer raw data at a maximum rate of 54 Mbps, although a more realistic practical level is in the
region of the mid 20 Mbps region.

The data rate could be reduced to 48, 36, 24, 18, 12, 9 then 6 Mbit/s if required. 802.11a had 12
non-overlapping channels, 8 dedicated to indoor and 4 to point to point.

802.11a modulation format

802.11a used orthogonal frequency division multiplex. In using this type of waveform for a wireless
communications system, it was well ahead of its time.

The mobile phone or mobile communications technology of the day was aiming to use CDMA for the
forthcoming 3G system, and CDMA was the accepted approach fort he time for many systems.

OFDM used a large number of close spaced carriers, each carrying a low data rate signal and
spaced by 1/T where T was the time for the data rate. This significantly reduced the intercarrier
interference.

In fact it can be seen that the contributions from the sidebands of the different carriers fall to zero on
the frequencies for the adjacent carriers./p>

The other advantage of OFDM was that if selective fading affected some of the carriers, then the
overall sinal was able to accommodate this.

OFDM had many advantages as it enabled the overall signal to carry high data rates, while each of
the many carriers in the waveform carried a low data rate. This approach made the signal resilient to
reflections and unequal propagation for all the carriers.

The OFDM signal used for 802.11 comprised 52 subcarriers. Of these 48 were used for the data
transmission and four were used as pilot subcarriers.

The separation between the individual subcarriers was 0.3125 MHz. This resulted from the fact that
the 20 MHz bandwidth was divided by 64. Although only 52 subcarriers were used, occupying a total
of 16.6 MHz, the remaining space was used as a guard band between the different channels.

A variety of forms of modulation were used on each of the 802.11a subcarriers. BPSK, QPSK, 16-
QAM, and 64 QAM were employed as the conditions permit. For each set data rate there was a
corresponding form of modulation that is used.
Within the signal itself the symbol duration was 4 microseconds, and there was a guard interval of
0.8 microseconds.

DATA RATE (MBPS) MODULATION CODING RATE

6 BPSK 1/2
9 BPSK 3/4
12 QPSK 1/2
18 QPSK 3/4
24 16-QAM 1/2
36 16-QAM 3/4
48 64-QAM 1/2
54 64-QAM 3/4

As with many data wireless communications systems, the generation of the signal was performed
using digital signal processing techniques and a baseband signal was generated.

This signal was then upconverted to the final frequency. Similarly for signal reception, the incoming
802.11a signal was converted down to baseband and converted to its digital format after which it
was processed digitally.

Although the use of OFDM for a mass produced systems such as 802.11a may appear to have been
particularly complicated, it offered many advantages. The use of OFDM provides a significant
reduction in the problems of interference caused by multipath effects.

The use of OFDM also ensured that there was efficient use of the radio spectrum, which even in
these early days of wireless LANs and general wireless communications could be an issue.

802.11 frequency spectrum

802.11a used the 5 GHz ISM band which was relatively sparsely used in its day. The 802.11b
wireless LAN standard used 2.4 GHz and even though it was much less used than it is today,
congestion could still be an issue. The 802.11b signals competed with Bluetooth, other wireless
communications systems including Zigbee and a number of others. Tis was on top of interference
caused by the use of microwave ovens which also used this spectrum.

802.11a originally had 12 or 13 non-overlapping channels, 12 that were used indoor wireless
connectivity and 4 or 5 that were intended for outdoor point to point configurations.

Originally not all the channels were available in all countries in view of the radio regulatory
differences, but as time has advanced the 5 GHz band has become increasingly important for
wireless communications and has been widened in soem countries.

In terms of the radio propagation characteristics themselves of the 5 GHz band used by 802.11a
WLAN system the wider bandwidth meant that higher data rates could be achieved, but the 5 GHz
signals suffered greater elvels of attenuation when penetrating walls and other objects. This meant
that the range for wireless communications systems using these frequencies could be slightly less.

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IEEE 802.11G:

IEEE 802.11g was one of the main Wi-Fi standards to follow on from 802.11a and 802.11b. It built
on the performance and played a pivotal role in further establishing Wi-Fi as a major wireless
communications standard.

IEEE 802.11g had the advantage that it could support the high data speeds using 2.4 GHz which
had previously only attainable using 802.11a within the 5GHz ISM band.

In doing this it further established wireless technology as a viable standard for data communications
using wireless LANs at home and in the office.

he lower cost of chips using 2.4GHz combined with the higher speed meant that for many years it
became the dominant Wi-Fi technology. Although 5 GHz was less congested and had greater
bandwidth which gave better performance for wireless LANs, the additional cost for chips at 5 GHz
was still a major factor.

802.11g specifications
The "g" standard for Wi-Fi offered a good number of highlight features, and it was a major leap
forward over the previous 802.11b version that standard the use of 2.4 GHz for wireless LAN usage.

The 802.11g standard provided a number of improvements over the 802.11b standard which was its
predecessor. The highlights of its performance are given in the table below.

IEEE 802.11G WI-FI FEATURES

FEATURE 802.11G

Date of standard approval June 2003

Maximum data rate (Mbps) 54

Modulation CCK, DSSS, or OFDM

RF Band (GHz) 2.4

Channel width (MHz) 20

802.11g physical layer:

Like 802.11b, its predecessor, 802.11g operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. It provides a maximum
raw data throughput of 54 Mbps, although this translates to a real maximum throughput of just over
24 Mbps. In fact the raw data rate is the same as the older 802.11a version for WLANs that was
launched at the same time as 802.11b.

Although the system is compatible with 802.11b, the presence of an 802.11b participant in a network
significantly reduces the speed of a wireless network. In fact it was compatibility issues that took up
much of the working time of the IEEE 802.11g committee.

In order to provide resilience against multipath effects while also being able to carry the high data
rates, the main modulation method chosen for 802.11g was that of OFDM - orthogonal frequency
division multiplex, although other schemes are used to maintain compatibility, etc.

OFDM is now a popular waveform for high data rate wireless communications and it is used for the
4G and 5G mobile communications systems.

The OFDM waveform or signal format uses a large number of close spaced carriers, each carrying a
low data rate. The carriers can be close spaced by matching the reciprocal of the time period for the
data rate to the spacing frequency of the carriers.

By matching the carrier spacing in this way, the sidebands from the carriers have minimal mutual
interference.

Basic concept of OFDM, Orthogonal

Frequency Division Multiplexing

The advantages of using OFDM for wireless networks and wireless communications in general
include the high level of spectrum efficiency, the resilience to multi-path effects as well as the
selective fading caused by multipath and reflections, etc.

Note on OFDM:
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex, OFDM is a form of signal format that uses a large number
of close spaced carriers that are each modulated with low rate data stream. The close spaced
signals would normally be expected to interfere with each other, but by making the signals
orthogonal to each other there is no mutual interference. The data to be transmitted is shared across
all the carriers and this provides resilience against selective fading from multi-path effects.

To provide the maximum capability while maintaining backward compatibility, four different physical
layers are used - three of which are defined as Extended Rate Physicals, ERPs.
These different physical layers coexist during the frame exchange so that the sender can use any
one of the four, provided they are supported at each end of the link. The link will performance data
exchanges to determine what can be used.

The four layer options defined in the 802.11g specification are:

 ERP-DSSS-CCK: This layer is that used with 11b. Direct sequence spread spectrum is used
along with CCK - complementary code keying. The performance is that of the legacy 802.11b
systems.

 ERP-OFDM: This physical layer is a new one introduced for 802.11g where OFDM is used to
enable the provision of the data rates at 2.4 GHz that were achieved by 11a at 5.8 GHz.

 ERP-DSSS/PBCC: This physical layer was introduced for use with 802.11b and initially
provided the same data rates as the DSS/CCK layer, but with 802.11g, the data rates have been
extended to provide 22 and 33 Mbps. As indicated by the title, it uses DSSS technology for the
modulation combined with PBCC coding for the data.

 DSSS-OFDM: This layer is new to 11g and uses a combination of DSSS and OFDM - the
packet header is transmitted using DSSS while the payload is transmitted using OFDM

802.11g occupies a nominal 22 MHz channel bandwidth, making it possible to accommodate up to

three non-overlapping signals within the 2.4 GHz band. Despite this, the separation between
different Wi-Fi access points means that interference is not normally too much of an issue.

IEEE 802.11G WI-FI PHYSICAL LAYER SUMMARY

PHYSICAL LAYER USE DATA RATES (MBPS)

ERP-DSSS Mandatory 1, 2, 5.5, 11

ERP-OFDM Mandatory 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54

ERP-PBCC Optional 1, 2, 5.5, 11, 22, 33

DSSS-OFDM Optional 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54

802.11g packet structure

As with all data transmissions these days, the data is split into packets so that these can be
transported over the wireless network interfaces in a manageable fashion and with error detection
and correction.

It is customary for data packets to be split into different elements. For Wi-Fi systems the data
packets sent over the radio interface can be thought of as consisting of two main parts:

 Preamble / Header: As with any other preamble / header, it serves to alert receivers, in this
case radios, that a transmission is to start, and then it enables them to synchronise. The
preamble consists of a known series of '1's and '0's that enable the receivers to synchronise with
 the incoming transmission. The Header element immediately follows the pre-amble and contains
information about the data to follow including the length of the payload
.
 Payload: This is the actual data that is sent across the radio network and can range from 64
bytes up to 1500 bytes. In most cases the preamble/header are sent using the same modulation
format as the payload, but this is not always the case. When using the DSSS-OFDM format, the
header is sent using DSSS, while the payload uses OFDM.
The initial 802.11 standard defined a long preamble PLCP frame set. In the later 802.11b standard,
an optional short preamble was defined. Then for 802.11g the short preamble PPDU was defined as
mandatory.

802.11g
ERP-DSSS/CCK PPDU frame

Abbreviations
PPDU: This is the format into which data is converted by the PLCP for transmission.
PLCP: This is the PHY Layer Convergence Procedure and it transforms each 802.11 frame that
a station wishes to send into a PLCP protocol data unit, PPDU.
PDSU: This is the Physical Layer Service Data Unit, it represents the contents of the PPDU, i.e.,
the actual data to be sent.
Service: This field is always set to 00000000. The802.11 standard reserves its data and format
for future use.
For the ERP-OFDM PHY option an ERP packet must be followed by a 6 µs period of no
transmission called the signal extension period. The reason for this that for a 16 µs period was
allowed in 802.11a to enable convolutional decode processing to finish before the next packet
arrived.

Within 802.11g, the ERP-OFDM modulation scheme still requires 16 µs to ensure that the
convolutional decoding process is able to be completed within the overall process timing. To enable
this to occur, a signal extension of 6 µs is included. This enables the transmitting station to compute
the Duration field in the MAC header. In turn this ensures that the NAV value of 802.11b stations is
set correctly and compatibility is maintained.
IEEE 802.11g was a very successful wireless LAN standard. It provided a significant enhancement
in performance over 802.11b, whilst still carrying its wireless communications data over channels int
he 2.4 GHz licence free ISM band.

At this time, there was still a cost penalty for using 5GHz as the higher frequency required the use of
most expensive techniques in the IC fabrication process.

Nowadays, 802.11g is not widely used, although some legacy products may still require it, and many
more modern devices with wireless connectivity can fall back to use it if required. The technology
has moved on to use much more advanced wireless LAN and wireless communications standards
which providde much higher data rates and much lower levels of latency. But for its time, 802.11g
was widely used and gave a significant leap in performance over previous variants.

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802.11e:
Wi-Fi technology based on the 802.11 standard is now widespread in its use. Not only is it used to
provide real wireless LAN (WLAN) functionality, but it is also widely used to provide localised mobile
connectivity in terms of "hotspots". A variety of flavours of the IEEE 802.11 are available: 802.11a,
802.11b, 802.11g, and these different standards provide different data throughput speeds and
operate on different bands.

One of the major shortfalls for the developing applications for Wi-Fi is that it is not possible to
allocate a required quality of service for the particular application. Now with IEEE 802.11e the
Quality of Service or QoS problem is being addressed.

The need for QoS

The issue of Quality of Service, QoS on 802.11 Wi-Fi is of particular importance in some
applications, and accordingly 802.11e is addressing it. For surfing applications such as internet web
browsing of sending emails, delays in receiving responses or sending data does not have a major
impact. It results in slow downloads, or small delays in emails being sent. While it may have a small
annoyance to the user, there is no real operational impact on the service being provided. However
for applications such as voice or video transmission such as Voice over IP, VoIP, there is a far
greater impact and this creates a much greater need for 802.11e. Delays, jitter and missing packets
result in the system loosing the data and the service quality becoming poor. Accordingly for these
time sensitive applications it is necessary to be able to prioritise the traffic. This can only be done by
allocating a service priority level to the packets being sent, and this is now all being addressed by
IEEE standard 802.11e.

MAC layer
The way in which data is transmitted and controlled has a major impact on the way that QoS is
achieved. This is largely determined by the way the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer operates.
Within 802.11 there are two options for the MAC layer. The first is a centralised control scheme that
is referred to as the Point Coordination Function (PCF), and the second is a contention based
approach called Distributed Coordination Function (DCF). Of these few manufacturers of chips and
equipment have implemented PCF and the industry seems to have adopted the DCF approach.

The PCF mode supports time sensitive traffic flows to some degree. Wireless Access Points
periodically send beacon frames to communicate network management and identification which is
specific to that WLAN. Between the sending of these frames, PCF splits the time frame into a
contention free period and a contention period. If PCF is enabled on the remote station, it can
transmit data during the contention free polling periods. However the main reason why this approach
has not been widely adopted is because the transmission times are not predictable.

The other scheme, DCF uses a scheme called Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision
Avoidance (CSMA/CA). Within this scheme the MAC layer sends instructions for the receiver to look
for other carriers transmitting. If it sees none then it sends its packet after a given interval and awaits
an acknowledgement. If one is not received it then it knows its packet was not successfully received.
It then waits for a given time interval and also checks the channel before retrying to send its data
packet.

In more exact terms the transmitter uses a variety of methods to determine whether the channel is in
use, monitoring the activity looking for real signals and also determining whether any signals may be
expected. This can be achieved because every packet that is transmitted includes a value indicating
the length of time that transmitting station expects to occupy the channel. This is noted by any
stations that receive the signal, and only when this time has expired may they consider transmitting.

Once the channel appears to be idle the prospective transmitting station must wait for a period equal
to the DCF Inter-Frame Space (DIFS). If the channel has been active it must first wait for a time
consisting of the DIFS plus a random number of back off slot times. This is to ensure that if two
stations are waiting to transmit, then they do not both transmit together, and then repeatedly transmit
together.

A time known as a Contention Window (CW) is used for this. This is a random number of back-off
slots. If a transmitter intending to transmit senses that the channel becomes active, it must wait until
the channel comes free, waiting a random period for the channel to come free, but this time allowing
a longer CW.

While the system works well in preventing stations transmitting together, the result of using this
access system is that if the network usage level is high, then the time that it takes for data to be
successfully transferred increases. This results in the system appearing to become slower for the
users. In view of this WLANs may not provide a suitable QoS in their current form for systems where
real time data transfer is required.

Introducing QoS
The problem can be addressed by introducing a Quality of Service, QoS identifier into the system. In
this way those applications where a high quality of service is required can tag their transmissions
and take priority over the transmissions carrying data that does not require immediate transmission
and response. In this way the level of delay and jitter on data such as that used for VoIP and video
may be reduced.

To introduce the QoS identifier, it has been necessary to develop a new MAC layer and this has
been undertaken under the standard IEEE 802.11e. In this the traffic is assigned a priority level prior
to transmission. These are termed User Priority (UP) levels and there are eight in total. Having done
this, the transmitter then prioritises all the data it has to waiting to be sent by assigning it one of four
Access Categories (AC).

In order to achieve the required functions, the re-developed MAC layer takes on aspects of both the
DCF and PCF from the previous MAC layer alternatives and is termed the Hybrid Coordination
Function (HCF). In this the modified elements of the DCF are termed the Enhanced Distributed
Channel Access (EDCA), while the elements of the PCF are termed the HCF Controlled Channel
Access (HCCA).

EDCA
Of these the EDCA provides a mechanism whereby traffic can be prioritised but it remains a
contention based system and therefore it cannot guarantee a give QoS. In view of this it is still
possible that transmitters with data of a lower importance could still pre-empt data from another
transmitter with data of a higher importance.

When using EDCA, a new class of interframe space called an Arbitration Inter Frame Space (AIFS)
has been introduced. This is chosen such that the higher the priority the message, the shorter the
AIFS and associated with this there is also a shorter contention window. The transmitter then gains
access to the channel in the normal way, but in view of the shorter AIFS and shorter contention
window, this means that the higher the chance of it gaining access to the channel. Although,
statistically a higher priority message will usually gain the channel, this will not always be the case.

HCCA
The HCCA adopts a different technique, using a polling mechanism. Accordingly it can provide
guarantees about the level of service it can provide, and thereby providing a true Quality of Service
level. Using this the transmitter is able to gain access to a radio channel for a given number of
packets, and only after these have been sent is the channel released.

The control station which is normally the Access Point is known as the Hybrid Coordinator (HC). It
takes control of the channel. Although it has an IFS, it has what is termed a Point Coordination IFS.
As this is shorter than the DIFS mentioned earlier, it will always gain control of the channel. Once it
has taken control it polls all the stations or transmitters in the network. To do this it broadcasts as
particular frame indicating the start of polling, and it will poll each station in turn to determine the
highest priority. It will then enable the transmitter with the highest priority data to transmit, although it
will result in longer delays for traffic that has a lower priority.

802.11n/ac/ax/ay/ba/be:

802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6)

Branded as Wi-Fi 6, the 802.11ax standard went live in 2019 and will replace
802.11ac as the de facto wireless standard. Wi-Fi 6 maxes out at 10 Gbps,
uses less power, is more reliable in congested environments, and supports
better security.

802.11n

802.11n (also sometimes known as Wireless N) was designed to improve

on 802.11g in the amount of bandwidth it supports, by using several
wireless signals and antennas (called MIMO technology) instead of one.
Industry standards groups ratified 802.11n in 2009 with specifications
providing for up to 600 Mbps of network bandwidth. 802.11n also offers a
somewhat better range over earlier Wi-Fi standards due to its increased
signal intensity, and it is backward-compatible with 802.11a/b/g gear.

 Pros of 802.11n: Significant bandwidth improvement from previous

standards; wide support across devices and network gear
 Cons of 802.11n: More expensive to implement than 802.11g; use of
multiple signals may interfere with nearby 802.11b/g based networks

802.11 AC:

The generation of Wi-Fi that first signaled popular

use, 802.11ac uses dual-band wireless technology, supporting
simultaneous connections on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi devices.
802.11ac offers backward compatibility to 802.11a/b/g/n and bandwidth
rated up to 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band plus up to 450 Mbps on 2.4 GHz.
Most home wireless routers are compliant with this standard.

802.11ac is the most expensive to implement; performance improvements

only noticeable in high-bandwidth applications

QOS:
Quality-of-Service (QoS) refers to traffic control mechanisms that seek to either
differentiate performance based on application or network-operator requirements or
provide predictable or guaranteed performance to applications, sessions, or traffic
aggregates. Basic phenomenon for QoS means in terms of packet delay and losses of
various kinds.
Need for QoS –
 Video and audio conferencing require bounded delay and loss rate.
 Video and audio streaming requires bounded packet loss rate, it may not be so
sensitive to delay.
 Time-critical applications (real-time control) in which bounded delay is considered
to be an important factor.
 Valuable applications should be provided better services than less valuable
applications.
QoS Specification –
QoS requirements can be specified as:
1. Delay
2. Delay Variation(Jitter)
3. Throughput
4. Error Rate
There are two types of QoS Solutions:
1. Stateless Solutions –
Routers maintain no fine-grained state about traffic, one positive factor of it is that it
is scalable and robust. But it has weak services as there is no guarantee about the
kind of delay or performance in a particular application which we have to
encounter.
2. Stateful Solutions –
Routers maintain a per-flow state as flow is very important in providing the Quality-
of-Service i.e. providing powerful services such as guaranteed services and high
resource utilization, providing protection, and is much less scalable and robust.
Integrated Services(IntServ) –
1. An architecture for providing QoS guarantees in IP networks for individual
application sessions.
2. Relies on resource reservation, and routers need to maintain state information of
allocated resources and respond to new call setup requests.
3. Network decides whether to admit or deny a new call setup request.
IntServ QoS Components –
 Resource reservation: call setup signaling, traffic, QoS declaration, per-element
admission control.
 QoS-sensitive scheduling e.g WFQ queue discipline.
 QoS-sensitive routing algorithm(QSPF)
 QoS-sensitive packet discard strategy.
RSVP-Internet Signaling –
It creates and maintains distributed reservation state, initiated by the receiver and
scales for multicast, which needs to be refreshed otherwise reservation times out as it
is in soft state. Latest paths were discovered through “PATH” messages (forward
direction) and used by RESV messages (reserve direction).
Call Admission –
 Session must first declare it’s QoS requirement and characterize the traffic it will
send through the network.
 R-specification: defines the QoS being requested, i.e. what kind of bound we
want on the delay, what kind of packet loss is acceptable, etc.
 T-specification: defines the traffic characteristics like bustiness in the traffic.
 A signaling protocol is needed to carry the R-spec and T-spec to the routers where
reservation is required.
 Routers will admit calls based on their R-spec, T-spec and based on the current
resource allocated at the routers to other calls.
Diff-Serv –
Differentiated Service is a stateful solution in which each flow doesn’t mean a different
state. It provides reduced state services i.e. maintaining state only for larger granular
flows rather than end-to-end flows tries to achieve the best of both worlds.
Intended to address the following difficulties with IntServ and RSVP:
1. Flexible Service Models:
IntServ has only two classes, want to provide more qualitative service classes:
want to provide ‘relative’ service distinction.
2. Simpler signaling:
Many applications and users may only want to specify a more qualitative notion of
service.
Streaming Live Multimedia –
 Examples: Internet radio talk show, Live sporting event.
 Streaming: playback buffer, playback buffer can lag tens of seconds after and still
have timing constraint.
 Interactivity: fast forward is impossible, but rewind and pause is possible.

BLUETOOTH:
Bluetooth wireless technology is a short range communications technology intended to replace
the cables connecting portable unit and maintaining high levels of security. Bluetooth technology
is based on Ad-hoc technology also known as Ad-hoc Pico nets, which is a local area
network with a very limited coverage.

History of Bluetooth
WLAN technology enables device connectivity to infrastructure based services through
a wireless carrier provider. The need for personal devices to communicate wirelessly
with one another without an established infrastructure has led to the emergence
of Personal Area Networks (PANs).
 Ericsson's Bluetooth project in 1994 defines the standard for PANs to enable
communication between mobile phones using low power and low cost radio
interfaces.
 In May 1988, Companies such as IBM, Intel, Nokia and Toshiba joined Ericsson
to form the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) whose aim was to develop a
defacto standard for PANs.
 IEEE has approved a Bluetooth based standard named IEEE 802.15.1 for
Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). IEEE standard covers MAC and
Physical layer applications.
Bluetooth specification details the entire protocol stack. Bluetooth employs Radio
Frequency (RF) for communication. It makes use of frequency modulation to generate
radio waves in the ISM band.
The usage of Bluetooth has widely increased for its special features.
 Bluetooth offers a uniform structure for a wide range of devices to connect and
communicate with each other.
 Bluetooth technology has achieved global acceptance such that any Bluetooth
enabled device, almost everywhere in the world, can be connected with Bluetooth
enabled devices.
 Low power consumption of Bluetooth technology and an offered range of up to
ten meters has paved the way for several usage models.
 Bluetooth offers interactive conference by establishing an adhoc network of
laptops.
 Bluetooth usage model includes cordless computer, intercom, cordless phone
and mobile phones.

Piconets and Scatternets:

Bluetooth enabled electronic devices connect and communicate wirelessly through
shortrange devices known as Piconets. Bluetooth devices exist in small ad-hoc
configurations with the ability to act either as master or slave the specification allows a
mechanism for master and slave to switch their roles. Point to point configuration with
one master and one slave is the simplest configuration.
When more than two Bluetooth devices communicate with one another, this is called
a PICONET. A Piconet can contain up to seven slaves clustered around a single
master. The device that initializes establishment of the Piconet becomes the master.
The master is responsible for transmission control by dividing the network into a series
of time slots amongst the network members, as a part of time division
multiplexing scheme which is shown below.
The features of Piconets are as follows −
 Within a Piconet, the timing of various devices and the frequency hopping
sequence of individual devices is determined by the clock and unique 48-bit
address of master.
 Each device can communicate simultaneously with up to seven other devices
within a single Piconet.
 Each device can communicate with several piconets simultaneously.
 Piconets are established dynamically and automatically as Bluetooth enabled
devices enter and leave piconets.
 There is no direct connection between the slaves and all the connections are
essentially master-to-slave or slave-to-master.
 Slaves are allowed to transmit once these have been polled by the master.
 Transmission starts in the slave-to-master time slot immediately following a
polling packet from the master.
 A device can be a member of two or more piconets, jumping from one piconet to
another by adjusting the transmission regime-timing and frequency hopping
sequence dictated by the master device of the second piconet.
 It can be a slave in one piconet and master in another. It however cannot be a
master in more than once piconet.
 Devices resident in adjacent piconets provide a bridge to support inner-piconet
connections, allowing assemblies of linked piconets to form a physically
extensible communication infrastructure known as Scatternet.
Spectrum
Bluetooth technology operates in the unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical (ISM)
band at 2.4 to 2.485 GHZ, using a spread spectrum hopping, full-duplex signal at a
nominal rate of 1600 hops/sec. the 2.4 GHZ ISM band is available and unlicensed in
most countries.
Range
Bluetooth operating range depends on the device Class 3 radios have a range of up to
1 meter or 3 feet Class 2 radios are most commonly found in mobile devices have a
range of 10 meters or 30 feet Class 1 radios are used primarily in industrial use cases
have a range of 100 meters or 300 feet.
Data rate
Bluetooth supports 1Mbps data rate for version 1.2 and 3Mbps data rate for Version 2.0
combined with Error Data Rate.
PROTOCOL STACK::
protocol stack refers to a group of protocols that are runnning concurrently
that are employed for the implementation of network protocol suite.

The protocols in a stack determine the interconnectivity rules for a layered

network model such as in the OSI or TCP/IP models. To become a stack the
protocols must be interoperable being able to connect both vertically
between the layers of the network and horizontally between the end-points
of each transmission segment.

Network Security refers to the measures taken by any enterprise or

organization to secure its computer network and data using both hardware and
software systems. This aims at securing the confidentiality and accessibility of
the data and network. Every company or organization that handles a large
amount of data, has a degree of solutions against many cyber threats.

he most basic example of Network Security is password protection which the

user of the network oneself chooses. In recent times, Network Security has
become the central topic of cyber security with many organizations inviting
applications from people who have skills in this area. The network security
solutions protect various vulnerabilities of the computer systems such as:

1. Users
2. Locations
3. Data
4. Devices
5. Applications
Network Security: Working
The basic principle of network security is protecting huge stored data and
networks in layers that ensure the bedding of rules and regulations that have to
be acknowledged before performing any activity on the data.
These levels are:
1. Physical
2. Technical
3. Administrative
These are explained as following below.
1. Physical Network Security:
This is the most basic level that includes protecting the data and network
through unauthorized personnel from acquiring control over the
confidentiality of the network. These include external peripherals and routers
that might be used for cable connections. The same can be achieved by
using devices like biometric systems.

2. Technical Network Security:

It primarily focuses on protecting the data stored in the network or data
involved in transitions through the network. This type serves two purposes.
One is protected from unauthorized users, and the other is protection from
malicious activities.

3. Administrative Network Security:

This level of network security protects user behavior like how the permission
has been granted and how the authorization process takes place. This also
ensures the level of sophistication the network might need for protecting it
through all the attacks. This level also suggests necessary amendments that
have to be done to the infrastructure.
Types of Network Security:
The few types of network securities are discussed below :
1. Access Control:
Not every person should have a complete allowance for the accessibility to
the network or its data. One way to examine this is by going through each
personnel’s details. This is done through Network Access Control which
ensures that only a handful of authorized personnel must be able to work
 with the allowed amount of resources.

2. Antivirus and Anti-malware Software:

This type of network security ensures that any malicious software does not
enter the network and jeopardize the security of the data. The malicious
software like Viruses, Trojans, and Worms is handled by the same. This
ensures that not only the entry of the malware is protected but also that the
system is well equipped to fight once it has entered.

3. Cloud Security:
Now a day, a lot many organizations are joining hands with cloud technology
where a large amount of important data is stored over the internet. This is
very vulnerable to the malpractices that few unauthorized dealers might
pertain. This data must be protected and it should be ensured that this
protection is not jeopardized by anything. Many businesses embrace SaaS
applications for providing some of their employees the allowance of
accessing the data stored over the cloud. This type of security ensures
creating gaps in the visibility of the data.

NETWORK:

A network profile defines the attributes for a connection to a basic service set (BSS)
network. Network profiles consist of XML data fragments. For Windows Vista, a network
profile contains the following XML fragments.

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Zigbee is a standards-based wireless technology developed to enable low-cost, low-power

wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) and internet of things (IoT) networks.

Zigbee is for low-data rate, low-power applications and is an open standard

Zigbee specifications

Zigbee is based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

(IEEE) Standards Association's 802.15 specification. Zigbee is built for control and
sensor networks on the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless standard for wireless personal area
networks (WPANs). The Zigbee WPANs operate on 2.4 Ghz, 900 MHz and 868 MHz
frequencies.
Mesh networking

A key piece of the Zigbee protocol is its ability to support mesh networking. Zigbee uses a mesh
network architecture for communication.

A mesh network is a local area network (LAN), wireless LAN (WLAN) or virtual LAN (VLAN) that
employs one of two decentralized connection arrangements: full mesh topology or partial mesh
topology.

In a full mesh topology, each network node is connected directly to other nodes. In a partial mesh
topology, some nodes are connected to all the others, but some are only connected to nodes they exchange
the most data with.

The Zigbee protocol defines three types of nodes: coordinators, routers and end devices. Although all
nodes can send and receive data, they each play a different role.

There is one coordinator in each network whose job is to store information about the network, including
security keys. Routers are intermediate nodes, relaying data from other devices. End devices can be low-
power or battery-powered devices, which can talk to the coordinator or a router, but can't relay data from
other devices.

Zigbee Alliance

The Zigbee Alliance works to simplify wireless product integration to help product manufacturers
introduce energy-efficient wireless control into their products faster and more cost-effectively. Alliance
members create standards that offer reliable, secure, low-power and easy-to-use wireless communication,
using an open standards development process to guide their work. The alliance is organized by
committees, work groups, study groups, task forces and special interest groups.

ZIGBEE

There are three types of membership with different rights and benefits:

 An adopter offers access to final, approved specifications, participation in interoperability events

and access to standard work/task group documents and development activities.
 A participant offers voting rights in work groups and has early access to all Zigbee Alliance standards
and specifications in development.

 A promoter offers automatic voting rights in all work groups, final approval rights on all standards
and a seat on the alliance's board of directors.

Who uses Zigbee?

Zigbee is used by a variety of cable and telecommunication companies in their set-top boxes, satellite
transceivers and home gateways to provide home monitoring and energy management products to their
customers.

Zigbee is also used by vendors that provide connected lighting products for homes and businesses. With
Zigbee-based smart home products, consumers can control LED figures, lightbulbs, remotes and switches
in home and remotely to improve energy management.

Utility companies can use Zigbee in their smart meters to monitor, control, inform, and automate the
delivery and use of energy and water. Smart meters give the consumers the information -- and automation
-- needed to reduce energy use and save money.

Zigbee-based products also enhance the shopping experience for consumers by enabling faster checkouts,
in-store assistance and in-store item location. Zigbee helps retailers operate more efficiently by ensuring
items don't run out of stock and supporting just-in-time inventory practices, as well as monitoring
temperatures, humidity, spills and so on.

Zigbee supports a number of devices, including intelligent shopping carts, personal shopping assistants,
electronic shelf labels and asset tracking tags.

Further development

Recently, the Zigbee Alliance rolled out "dotdot," a program to extend its interoperability technology
beyond Zigbee. Dotdot, a universal language for the internet of things, lets smart objects work together on
any network, unlocking new markets for members and unifying the fragmented IoT.

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