IEEE 802.

11 Architecture

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Module contents

IEEE 802.11 Terminology

IEEE 802.11 MAC Frames

Operational Processes
Configuration parameters

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802 .11 Terminology

STA (Station)
PC-Card Hardware

Radio Hardware

Station (STA) Architecture:

Device that contains IEEE 802.11 conformant MAC and PHY interface to the wireless medium, but does not provide access to a distribution system Most often end-stations available in terminals (work-stations, laptops etc.) Implemented in ORiNOCO IEEE 802.11 PC-Card Ethernet-like driver interface
supports virtually all protocol stacks

802.11 frame format

WMAC controller with Station Firmware (WNIC-STA)

802.3 frame format

Driver Software (STADr)

Platform Computer

Ethernet V2.0 / 802.3 frame format

Protocol Stack

Frame translation according to IEEE Std 802.1H

IEEE 802.3 frames: translated to 802.11 Maximum Data limited to 1500 octets

Transparent bridging to Ethernet

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802 .11 Terminology

AP (Access Point)
Radio Hardware

PC-Card Hardware

802.11 frame format

WMAC controller with Access Point Firmware (WNIC-AP)

802.3 frame format

Driver Software (APDr)

Bridge Software

Ethernet V2.0 / 802.3 frame format

Kernel Software (APK)

Access-Point (AP) Architecture: Device that contains IEEE 802.11 conformant MAC and PHY interface to the wireless medium, providing access to a distribution system for associated stations Most often infra-structure products that connect to wired backbones Implemented in ORiNOCO IEEE 802.11 PC-Card inserted in AP-500, AP-1000, AP-2000 STAs select an AP and associate with it APs :
Support roaming Provide time synchronization (beaconing) Provide Power Management support

Ethernet Interface

Bridge Hardware

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802 .11 Terminology

Basic Service Set (BSS)

Basic Service Set (BSS): A set of stations controlled by a single Coordination Function (=the logical function that determines when a station can transmit or receive)

Similar to a cell in Cellular network terminology

A BSS can have an Access-Point (both in standalone networks and in building-wide configurations), or can run without and Access-Point (in standalone networks only) Station-to-Station traffic is relayed by the Access Point

BSS

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802 .11 Terminology

Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS)

Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS): A Basic Service Set (BSS) which forms a self-contained network in which no access to a Distribution System is available A BSS without an Access-Point Station-to-station traffic flows directly without any relay action

IBSS

All stations in the cell will be able to receive frames transmitted by another station in the cell (filtering of traffic for subsequent processing is based on MAC address of the receiver)

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802 .11 Terminology

Extended Service Set (ESS) - Integrated DS

Extended Service Set (ESS): A set of one or more Basic Service Sets interconnected by a Distribution System (DS) Traffic always flows via Access-Point Distribution System (DS): A system to interconnect a set of Basic Service Sets

BSS

Integrated; A single Access-Point in a standalone network Wired; Using cable to interconnect the Access-Points Wireless; Using wireless to interconnect the Access-Points

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802 .11 Terminology

Extended Service Set (ESS) - Wired DS

Extended Service Set (ESS): A set of one or more Basic Service Sets interconnected by a Distribution System (DS) Traffic always flows via Access-Point
BSS

Distribution System (DS): A system to interconnect a set of Basic Service Sets

BSS Integrated; A single Access-Point in a standalone network Wired; Using cable to interconnect the Access-Points Wireless; Using wireless to interconnect the Access-Points

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802 .11 Terminology

Extended Service Set (ESS) - Wireless DS

Extended Service Set (ESS): A set of one or more Basic Service Sets interconnected by a Distribution System (DS) Traffic always flows via Access-Point
BSS

Distribution System (DS): A system to interconnect a set of Basic Service Sets

BSS Integrated; A single Access-Point in a standalone network Wired; Using cable to interconnect the Access-Points Wireless; Using wireless to interconnect the Access-Points

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802 .11 Terminology

SSID (Network name)

BSSID = xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

BSS

SSID = ABCD

BSSID = yy-yy-yy-yy-yy-yy

Service Set Identifier (SSID): Network name One network (ESS or IBSS) has one SSID 32 octets long string Needed to separate one network from the other Used during initial establishment of communication between STA and AP to allow STA to select the correct AP BSS Can be viewed as Security Provision in combination with so-called Closed Option (not providing the correct SSID means no access to the network)

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802 .11 Terminology

BSSID (Cell Identifier)

BSSID = xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

BSS

SSID = ABCD

BSSID = yy-yy-yy-yy-yy-yy

Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) cell identifier One BSS has one BSSID 6 octets long (MAC address format) In ESS is the same as the MAC address of the radio in the AP In IBSS the value of BSSID will be randomly generated, and with local-bit on BSS Used as filter for multi-cast traffic and for traffic from other networks (in IBSS networks) Used during hand-over (roaming) to other AP, in identifying the old AP

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802.11 MAC Frames

Frame Formats
Bytes: 2
Frame Control

2
Duration ID

6
Addr 1

6
Addr 2

6
Addr 3

2
Sequence Control

6
Addr 4

0-2312 Frame Body

4 CRC

802.11 MAC Header

Bits: 2 Protocol Version 2 Type 4 SubType 1 To DS 1 From DS 1 More Frag 1 Retry 1 Pwr Mgt 1 More Data 1 WEP 1 Rsvd

Frame Control Field

MAC Header format differs per Type:

Control Frames (several fields are omitted) Management Frames Data Frames

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802.11 MAC Frames

Address Field Description
Bits: 2 Protocol Version 2 Type 4 SubType 1 To DS 1 From DS 1 More Frag 1 Retry 1 Pwr Mgt 1 More Data 1 WEP 1 Rsvd

Frame Control Field

To DS 0 From DS 0 Address 1 DA Address 2 SA Address 3 BSSID Address 4 N/A

0
1 1

1
0 1

DA
BSSID RA

BSSID
SA TA

SA
DA DA

N/A
N/A SA

Addr. 1 = Addr. 2 = Addr. 3 = Addr. 4 =

All stations filter on this address. Transmitter Address (TA), Identifies transmitter to address the ACK frame to. Dependent on To and From DS bits. Needed to identify the original source of WDS (Wireless Distribution System) frames

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802.11 MAC Frames

Type field descriptions
Bits: 2
Protocol Version

2
Type

4
SubType

1
To DS

1
From DS

1
More Frag

1
Retry

1
Pwr Mgt

1
More Data

1
WEP

1
Rsvd

Frame Control Field

Type and subtype identify the function of the frame: Type=00 Management Frame
Beacon Probe Power Management (Re)Association (De)Authentication

Type=01 Control Frame

RTS/CTS ACK

Type=10 Data Frame

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802.11 MAC Frames

Management Frames
Beacon
Timestamp, Beacon Interval, Capabilities, SSID, Supported Rates, parameters, Traffic Indication Map

Association Request
Capability, Listen Interval, SSID, Supported Rates

Probe
SSID, Capabilities, Supported Rates

Association Response
Capability, Status Code, Station ID, Supported Rates

Probe Response
Timestamp, Beacon Interval, Capabilities, SSID, Supported Rates, parameters same for Beacon except for TIM

Re-association Request
Capability, Listen Interval, SSID, Supported Rates, Current AP Address

Dis-association
Reason code

Re-association Response
Capability, Status Code, Station ID, Supported Rates

Authentication
Algorithm, Sequence, Status, Challenge Text
A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

De-authentication
Reason

Operational processes
Association
Process within an ESS where an STA establishes a relationship with an AP Before a STA can access an ESS, Association has to be completed STA will scan the available channels in the 2.4 GHz band to select AP (with matching SSID) that has the best communications quality
Active Scan (sending a Probe request on specific channels and assess response) Passive Scan (assessing communications quality from beacon message)

AP maintains list of associate stations in MAC FW

Record station capability (data-rate) To allow inter-BSS relay

Stations MAC address is also maintained in bridge learn table in the Access Point associated with the port it is located on

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Authentication
Process within an ESS to control access to the network Stations need to identify themselves to other Access-Points prior to data traffic or association Open System Authentication
Uses null authentication algorithm Default

Shared Key Authentication

Uses WEP privacy algorithm Optional

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Starting an ESS
The infrastructure network is identified by its SSID (network name) All APs have to be configured to use this SSID ORiNOCO wireless stations will be configured to set their desired SSID to the value of SSID configured in the APs On power up stations will issue Probe Requests and will locate the AP that they will associate with:
best Access-Point with matching SSID best Access-Point if the desired SSID has been set to ANY or a blank (empty) string (known as the broadcast SSID

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Starting an IBSS
Station configured for IBSS operation will:
Scan the band (using Probe requests) using the SSID it was configured with Received Probe Responses that match the SSID contain indication about sender of the Probe Response: If sender is an AP, the station will associate to the AP If sender is another STA in IBSS mode, the station will join this IBSS, and will obtain the BSSID of the starter to be able to filter traffic (for network separation) When no Probe Responses are received with matching Network Name, Station will start the IBSS network: Set an BSSID (randomly generated, in MAC address format with local bit on) Start sending Beacons

All Stations in an IBSS network will participate in sending beacons.

All stations start a random timer prior to the point in time when next Beacon is to be sent. First station whose random timer expires will send the next beacon

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Traffic Flow

On transmit:
Free access when medium is free longer than DIFS DIFS

Contention Window
PIFS

DIFS

SIFS

Busy Medium

Backoff-Window

Next Frame

Slot time

Defer Access

Select Slot and Decrement Backoff as long as medium is idle.

STA that wants to send makes an ClearMedium check to see if the medium is available After Busy Medium condition has cleared, STA will await for DIFS and contends for the medium When winning the contention, STA will transmit the frame. The Address 1 field of the frame contains:
The BSSID (when STA operates in an ESS) The MAC address of the recipient or a Multi-cast address (when STA operates in an IBSS)

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Traffic Flow

DIFS

On receive:
Data
SIFS

Src

Dest

Ack
DIFS Contention Window

RF receivers on the same channel will process first part of frame (Frame header) and examine Address1

Next MPDU

Other
Defer Access

Backoff after Defer

Bytes: 2
Frame Control

2
Duration ID

6 Addr 1

6 Addr 2

6 Addr 3

2
Sequence Control

6 Addr 4

0-2312 Frame Body

4 CRC

802.11 MAC Header To DS 0 0 1 1 From DS 0 1 0 1 Address 1 DA DA BSSID RA Address 2 SA BSSID SA TA Address 3 BSSID SA DA DA Address 4 N/A N/A N/A SA

When the STA is in ESS operation and the Addr1 is uni-cast it is matched to its own MAC address, and accepted when the same When the STA is IBSS operation and the Addr1 is a uni-cast and matching its own MAC address, Addr3 (the BSSID) is compared to the BSSID obtained during IBSS set-up (has to to be the same) When Addr1 is multi-cast, the receiver will accept the frame, when Addr3 (the BSSID) matches the one obtained during association to the AP or during IBSS creation

Uni-cast frames are replied to with ACK after observing the SIFS period

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Traffic flow - bridging and relaying
On STA Association:
STA is recorded in Association Table within PC card FW STAs MAC address is recorded in the Bridge Learn table of the AP-500, AP-1000, AP-2000 correlated to the port is was detected on: 1 = Ethernet 2 = PC card (Slot-A on dual slot AP) 3 = PC card in Slot-B 4-15 = WDS ports (on AP-2000)

Bridge learn table MAC addr. Port #. xxx yyy 2 2

AP-500, AP-1000, AP-2000

ORiNOCO PC-Card Association table STA-1 STA-2 Intra-BSS Relay

Intra-BSS traffic handled by FW in PC Card, without consulting Bridge Learn table except for:
AP-2000 (always checks bridge table for port #) AP-500/AP-1000 with so-called Access Control enabled, to prevent non-authenticated STAs accessing other stations in the BSS
STA-2 yyy

STA-1 xxx

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Traffic flow - WDS operation
At this time implemented in the AP-2000 Up to 6 WDS links can be maintained by a single ORiNOCO PC Card within the AP Each link is associated with a separate port within the bridge learn table Linkage is established by identifying the MAC address of the PC Card at the other end of the link (at both ends) Frames on the WDS link use all 4 addresses in the MAC header Received frames transferred on the WDS link are filtered on first address Addr3 and Addr4 are used as address pair in 802.3 frame and passed to bridge

Channel 11 Channel 1

Channel 6

Bytes: 2
Frame Control

2
Duration ID

6 Addr 1

6 Addr 2

6 Addr 3

2
Sequence Control

6 Addr 4

0-2312 Frame Body

4 CRC

802.11 MAC Header To DS 0 0 1 1 From DS 0 1 0 1 Address 1 DA DA BSSID RA Address 2 SA BSSID SA TA Address 3 BSSID SA DA DA Address 4 N/A N/A N/A SA

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Traffic flow - Intra-BSS

Bridge learn table xxx yyy 2 2

AP-500, AP-1000

ORiNOCO PC-Card Association table STA-1 STA-2 Intra-BSS Relay ACK

BSS-A

Associate STA-1 xxx

Packet for STA-2

Associate
ACK

Packet for STA-2

STA-2 yyy

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Traffic flow - Inter-BSS with wired DS
Bridge learn table Bridge learn table yyy xxx 1 ORiNOCO PC-Card 2 Association table STA-1

AP-500, AP-1000 or AP-2000

ORiNOCO PC-Card

AP-500, AP-1000 or AP-2000

yyy xxx

2 1 Association table STA-2

Packet for STA-2 ACK

Packet for STA-2 ACK

BSS-B
STA-1 xxx

BSS-A

STA-2 yyy

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Traffic flow - Inter-BSS with wireless DS
Bridge learn table Bridge learn table yyy xxx 4 2 STA-1 Packet for STA-2 WDS Relay

AP-2000
ORiNOCO PC-Card Association table

AP-2000
ORiNOCO PC-Card Association table

yyy xxx

2 4

STA-2
WDS Relay

ACK
Packet for STA-2 ACK

Packet for STA-2 ACK

BSS-B
STA-1 xxx

BSS-A

STA-2 yyy

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Coalescence of IBSS networks
Different IBSS networks with same SSID might exist, if cell members are out of each others radio-range, when they start up. Two networks are shown with different BSSIDs: BSSID-a and BSSID-b Both networks are configured with the same SSID (SSID-a)
SSID-x

BSSID-a SSID-x

BSSID-b

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Coalescence of IBSS networks
When a station moves it might get into radio-range of a neighboring cell (from BSSID-a to BSSID-b) It will receive the Beacons from the neighboring cell, and examines these for the SSID. It will find that these Beacons contain the same SSID
SSID-x

BSSID-a SSID-x

BSSID-b

Based on time-stamp information in all Beacon messages received (from BSSID-a and BSSID-b) the station might decide to join the other network

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Coalescence of IBSS networks
To join the network it will obtain the BSSID from the frame header of the Beacon message Once joined it will participate in sending beacons according to the coordination of the new cell, and using the new BSSID Other stations close to the last one that joined the new cell, will be able to receive the beacons now as well

BSSID-a SSID-x

SSID-x

BSSID-b

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Coalescence of IBSS networks
The process repeats itself and another station might add itself to the network
SSID-x

BSSID-a

This can continue until all stations might have joined the cell

SSID-x

BSSID-b

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Operational processes
Coalescence of IBSS networks
The two cells have grown to one; this is known as Coalescence.
SSID-x

BSSID-a

When a station in this large cell will not hear Beacons anymore (if no Beacons have been received for 10 seconds), the station assumes that it is alone and restarts as IBSS station
SSID-x Scans all channels May find another AP or Station that sends Probe Responses with matching SSID, and connects Or starts new IBSS (with new BSSID)

BSSID-b

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Configuration Parameters

ORiNOCO PC-Card are used in client station and Access Point, but behaves differently based on the parent unit
When inserted in AP- 500, AP-1000 or AP-2000, AP firmware is downloaded into the PC-Card (Note: this is ORiNOCO/MAC FW, not Bridge FW) When inserted in client station, STA firmware is active (default FW)

Requires different configuration parameter sets to support the different behavior Configuration can be performed by:
Setting parameters at driver installation (Station) Changing parameters in property settings via control panel on config file (Station) Using ORiNOCO AP Manager (for AP-500, AP-1000) Browser based configuration tool (AP-2000) Using CLI procedures (All APs)

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Configuration Parameters
AP-500/1000/2000

Network Name (SSID) ASCII string to identify the network that the Access-Point is part of Frequency (channel) To indicate the frequency channel that the AP-500/1000/2000 will use for its cell. The channel is selected from the set that is allowed in the regulatory domain. Medium Reservation To enable/disable the RTS/CTS handshake.
Threshold value 0-2346 (value=2347 disables Medium Reservation)

Microwave Oven Robustness Check box to enable/disable data-rate fallback delay-mechanism to allow improved performance in presence of microwave ovens Distance between APs To specify the coverage of a cell in terms of the distance between the Access-Points
Large Medium Small

Multicast Rate To specify data-rate used for transmitting Multicast frames

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Configuration Parameters
AP-500/1000/2000

Closed System (AP) To enable rejection of association requests from stations with Network Name set to ANY Enable Encryption To enable/disable Encryption Encryption keys Four fields to store up to four different encryption keys Encryption key index Index identifying which of the four keys is the active one WDS MAC address of the corresponding AP in a WDS link

DTIM Power Management related parameter to specify the timing of the delivery of multicast traffic to stations that have indicated to receive multicast messages while under power management.
Example: DTIM=1 means multicast traffic when it arrives at the AP is passed through after every beacon DTIM=3 means multicast traffic is passed through after every 3rd beacon message

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Configuration Parameters
Station parameters
Station parameters are specified per so-called profile Up to 99 different profiles can be defined each having their set of parameters Values for parameters that have a dependency on similar ones in the APs are dynamically transferred to the STA as part of the (re)-association response.

Parameters that can be entered locally:

Network Name (SSID) ASCII string to identify the network that the station wants to connect to Type of Operation To identify the kind of network that the station will be part of
Network centered around APs Residential Gateway networks IBSS (peer-to-peer network)

Enable Encryption To enable/disable Encryption Encryption keys Four fields to store up to four different encryption keys Entries take up to 5 ASCII or 10 hexadecimal values (when using 64 WEP) Encryption key index Index identifying which of the four keys is the active one

Card Power Management Check box to enable/disable Power Management

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Configuration Parameters
Dynamically assigned station parameters
(Re) association response
Status code Vendor specific info Supported Rates Associatn ID Capability Info
2 bytes

2 bytes

2 bytes

3-11 bytes

15 bytes

Cell specific parameters are dynamically transferred to the STA as part of the (re)association response. Part of the Association response can be Vendor defined Agere OUI (= Organizational Unique Identifier), identifies the frame as ORiNOCO specific
Value is x601D

Cell Parameters
interference Robustness
Agere Element ID
1 byte
A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Agere Element ID identifies the type of information represented:

Medium Density Parameters (x80) Load Balancing Information (x81)

Agere OUI

RTS/CTS Threshold

Medium Density

1 byte

Length

3 bytes

7 bytes

2 bytes

1 byte

Configuration Parameters
Dynamically assigned station parameters
(Re) association response
Status code Vendor specific info Supported Rates Associatn ID Capability Info
2 bytes

RTS/CTS Threshold Interference Robustness switch Medium Density Parameters:

Distance between APs Energy Detect Threshold Carrier Detect Threshold Defer Threshold Cell Search Threshold Out of Range Threshold Delta SNR

2 bytes

2 bytes

3-11 bytes

15 bytes

Cell Parameters
interference Robustness
Agere Element ID
1 byte
A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Agere OUI

RTS/CTS Threshold

Medium Density

1 byte

Length

3 bytes

7 bytes

2 bytes

1 byte

Module contents

IEEE 802.11 Terminology

IEEE 802.11 MAC Frames

Operational Processes
Configuration parameters

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Your Mobile Broadband Connection

A04 - IEEE 802.11 Architecture