Advanced Networks CC531

Week 01 Fundamentals of short range wireless communication

What is wireless communication?

Any form of communication that does not require the transmitter and receiver to be in physical contact
Electromagnetic wave propagated through free-space; Radar, RF, Microwave, IR, Optical

Why do we use wireless communication?

Provides mobility Enables communication without installing an expensive infrastructure
Can easily set-up temporary LANs

Wired versus Wireless

Wires Attenuation is low Interference is nil: each wire is a separate medium Clumsy, costly, no Mobility Signal is more difficult to be intercepted No wires Attenuation is high Interference is high: single medium No knots, no digging to lay cables Allows mobility Signal is easily intercepted

Why Wireless Networks are spreading quickly?

Faster installation when compared to cabled networks Adaptability in a dynamic environment.
The capability of sharing an Internet or other WAN connection. The continuing development of new electronic devices (or newer versions) that use wireless technology

Electromagnetic Wave
Two important properties
Propagate : They travel in the space from the sender to a receiver

Transfer energy: This energy can be used for data transmission

Antenna
Made of conducting material
Applying a current to an antenna creates an electric field around the antenna As the current of the antenna changes, so does the electric field Radio waves hitting an antenna cause electrons to flow in the conductor and create current

Spectrum

Main issues in wireless communications

Fading: variation of signal strength due to:
Multipath fading : due to constructive & destructive interference of multiple signal paths between transmitter & receiver Path loss: via distance attenuation Shadowing: via obstacles

Multipath fading
Multipath: the propagation phenomenon that results in radio signals reaching the receiving antenna by two or more paths

 Radio waves can be propagated and receiving power is influenced in different ways:
Reflection at large obstacles
reflection

Scattering at small obstacles

Diffraction at edges
diffraction

Path Loss
is the reduction in power density (attenuation) of signal as it propagates through space
Can be identified as the ratio of the power of the transmitted signal to the power of the same signal received by the receiver

Shadowing effect
Shadowing is the effect that the received signal power fluctuates due to objects obstructing the propagation path between transmitter and receiver.

Interference
Adjacent channel interference: interfered by signals in nearby frequencies. Solved by the guard bands.

Co-channel interference: narrow-band interference due to other systems using the same frequency. Solved by Multiuser detection mechanisms Directional antennas Dynamic channel allocation methods.

Analogy for Multiple Access Techniques

people could take turns speaking (time division)

speak at different pitches (frequency division)

speak in different languages (code division).

Code Multiplexing is analogous to the last example where people speaking the same language can understand each other, but other languages are perceived as noise and rejected. Similarly, each group of users is given a shared code. Many codes occupy the same channel, but only users associated with a particular code can communicate

Multiple Access Techniques

channels ki

Multiplexing in 4 dimensions
frequency (f) time (t) code (c) space (si)

k1 c

k2

k3

k4

k5

k6

t s1
f s2 c f

Goal: multiple use of a shared medium

s3

1- Frequency Multiplexing
Separation of the whole spectrum into smaller frequency bands A channel gets a certain band of the spectrum for the whole time k k k k k Advantages:
1 2 3 4 5

k6

no dynamic coordination necessary works also for analog signals

c f

Disadvantages:
waste of bandwidth if the traffic is distributed unevenly inflexible guard spaces
t

2- Time Multiplexing
A channel gets the whole spectrum for a certain amount of time Advantages:
only one carrier in the medium at any time throughput high even for many users
k1 c f k2 k3 k4 k5 k6

Disadvantages:
precise synchronization necessary
t

Time and Frequency Multiplexing

Combination of both methods A channel gets a certain frequency band for a certain amount of time k k k k k Advantages:
1 2 3 4 5

k6

protection against frequency selective interference higher data rates compared to code multiplex but: precise coordination required
t

c f

3- Code Multiplexing
Each channel has a unique code
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6

All channels use the same spectrum at the same time Advantages:
bandwidth efficient no coordination and synchronization necessary good protection against interference

Disadvantages:
lower user data rates more complex signal regeneration

Implemented using spread spectrum technology

Spread spectrum
spread-spectrum techniques are methods by which a signal generated with a particular bandwidth is deliberately spread in the frequency domain, resulting in a signal with a wider bandwidth. These techniques are used for a variety of reasons
including the establishment of secure communications increasing resistance to natural interference, noise, jamming, and to prevent detection,

 Examples are:
Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)

Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS )

Data signal is modulated with a narrowband carrier signal that "hops" in a random but predictable sequence from frequency to frequency as a function of time over a wide band of frequencies.
Discrete changes of carrier frequency
The total bandwidth is split into many channels of smaller bandwidth. Transmitter and receiver stay on one of these channels for a certain time and hop to another channel.
The pattern of channel usage is called the hopping sequence

sequence of frequency changes determined via pseudo random number sequence

 Two versions Slow Hopping: several user bits per frequency Fast Hopping: several frequencies per user bit
tb
user data 0 f f3 f2 f1 f f3 f2 f1 t 1 0 1 1 t

td
slow hopping (3 bits/hop)

td

t
fast hopping (3 hops/bit)

 Advantages
frequency selective fading and interference limited to short period simple implementation uses only small portion of spectrum at any time

Disadvantages
not as robust as DSSS simpler to detect

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)

Data signal at the sending station is combined with a higher data rate bit sequence, or chipping code. The chipping code which increases the signal's resistance to interference. XOR of the signal with pseudo-random number (chipping sequence) Each chip has a much shorter duration than an information bit That is, each information bit is modulated by a sequence of much faster chips. Therefore, the chip rate is much higher than the information signal bit rate the sequence of chips produced by the transmitter is already known by the receiver The receiver can then use the same sequence to counteract the on the received signal in order to reconstruct the information signal
tb user data

0
tc

XOR
chipping sequence

01101010110101

= resulting signal

01101011001010

tb: bit period tc: chip period

 Advantages reduces frequency selective fading in cellular networks base stations can use the same frequency range several base stations can detect and recover the signal Disadvantages Requires synchronization

4- Space Division Multiple Access

Space division multiple access (SDMA) uses directional transmitters/antennas to cover angular regions. Different areas/regions can be served using the same frequency channel. This method is suited to
Satellite system: a narrowly focused beam to prevent the signal from spreading too widely. Cellular phone system: base station covers a certain transmission area (cell). Mobile devices communicate only via the base station

Wireless Networking Challenges

Challenge-1: Mobility
User moves out of range, or obstacle comes inbetween Network address has to change

Challenge-2: Low Bandwidth

Result of shared channel, high attenuation

 Challenge-3: Variable Bandwidth

Sources of variability:
Moving from wired to wireless Moving from one wireless network to another When changing location

Challenge-4: Security Risks

Shared medium Device can be stolen

Challenge-5: Power Consumption

Portable devices cannot have large batteries

Basic wireless parameters

1. Range 2. Throughput
3. Interference and coexistence 4. Power consumption

1- Range
Transmission range
communication possible low error rate

Detection range
detection of the signal possible no communication possible
sender transmission distance detection interference

Interference range
signal may not be detected signal adds to the background noise

 Transmission range is closely tied up with throughput and output (transmit) power.
Wireless connection maintains a link that supports a data rate close to the maximum the transmitter and receiver can support

 There is no strict definition of where the extreme of range is determined

Increasing transmission power can increase the range, but it is not the best solution Fading, interference and reflections will reduce the range significantly

2- Throughput
Throughput falls as the range increases and the Bit Error Rate (BER) rises

Range Vs Throughput for 802.11g

 Is usually measured in bits/second To get highest throughput wireless standards tries to gather a lot of information into each transmitted bit by using complex coding schemes

3- Interference and coexistence

If two radios within range of each other both transmit at the same time and at the same frequency, so signals arriving are likely to be corrupted.
Since no acknowledgement of reception is received, they will attempt to retransmit the data. Different standards use different techniques to try and ensure that they dont clash with each other on the retransmission but even if the next transmissions do not overlap and are successful, it means that the throughput will have decreased as a result of retransmission.

Hidden node problem

A and C can each communicate with the hub B, but are hidden from each other The problem is when nodes A and C start to send packets simultaneously to the access point B Since the nodes cannot sense the carrier, Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) does not work, and collisions occur, corrupting the data at the access point

Exposed node problem

occurs when a node is prevented from sending packets to other nodes due to a neighboring transmitter the two receivers are out of range of each other, yet the two transmitters in the middle are in range of each other. Here, if a transmission between S1 and R1 is taking place, node S2 is prevented from transmitting to R2 as it concludes after carrier sense that it will interfere with the transmission by its neighbor S1. However note that R2 could still receive the transmission of S2 without interference because it is out of range of S1

4- Power consumption
Many wireless products are designed to run on batteries There are different modes

Discussion
What is your biggest complaint about current wireless technology? In what application areas do you see wireless networks succeeding? In what application areas do you see wireless networks failing? What do you see as the motivating factors for using wireless as opposed to wired networks?