Troubleshooting Wireless LAN Installations

Solutions for Co-location Throughput Problems

As a wireless LAN installer or administrator, you really have two choices when considering access point co-location. You can accept the degraded throughput, or you can attempt a workaround. Accepting the fact that your users will not have 5 Mbps of actual throughput to the network backbone on each access point may be an acceptable scenario. First, however, you must make sure that the users connecting to the network in this situation can still be productive and that they do not actually require the full 5 Mbps of throughput. The last thing you want to be responsible for as a wireless LAN administrator is a network that does not allow the users to do their jobs or achieve the connections that they require. An administrator's second option in this case is to attempt a workaround. Below, we describe some of the alternatives to co-location problems.


Use Two Access Points

One option, which is the easiest, is to use channels 1 and 11 with only 2 access points, as illustrated in Figure 9.11. Using only these two channels will ensure that you have no overlap between channels regardless of proximity between systems, and therefore, no detrimental effect on the throughput of each access point. By way of comparison, two access points operating at the maximum capacity of 5.5 Mbps (about the best that you can expect by any access point), give you a total capacity of 11 Mbps of aggregate throughput, whereas three access points operating at approximately 4 Mbps each (degraded from the maximum due to actual channel overlap) on average yields only 12 Mbps of aggregate throughput. For an additional 1 Mbps of throughput, an administrator would have to spend the extra money to buy another access point, the time and labor to install it, and the continued burden of managing it.


In certain instances, the extra 1 Mbps of bandwidth might still be advantageous, but in a small environment, it might not be practical. Don't forget that this scenario applies only to access points located in the same physical space serving the same client base, but using different, non-overlapping channels. This configuration does not apply to channel reuse, where cells on different non-overlapping channels are alternately spread throughout an area to avoid co-channel interference.


Use 802.11a Equipment

As a second option, you could use 802.11a compliant equipment operating in the 5 GHz UNII bands. The 5 GHz UNII bands, which are each wider than the 2.4 GHz ISM band, have three usable bands, and each band allows for four non-overlapping channels. By using a mixture of 802.11b and 802.11a equipment, more systems can be co-located in the same space without fear of interference between systems. With two (or three) colocated 802.11b systems and up to 8 co-located 802.11a systems, there is the potential for an incredible amount of throughput in the same physical space. The reason that we specify 8 instead of 12 co-located access points with 802.11a is that only the lower and middle bands (with 4 non-overlapping channels each) are specified for indoor use. Therefore, indoors, where most access points are placed, there's normally only the potential for up to 8 access points using 802.11a compliant devices.

Issues with 802.11a Equipment

802.11a equipment is now available from only a few vendors, and is more expensive than equipment that uses the 2.4 GHz frequency band. However, the 5 GHz band has the advantage of many more non-overlapping channels than the 2.4 GHz band (8 vs. 3), allowing you to implement many more co-located access points. You must keep in mind that while the 2.4 GHz band allows for less expensive gear, the 2.4 GHz band is much more crowded, which means you are more likely to encounter interference from other nearby wireless LANs. Remember that 802.11a devices and 802.11b devices are incompatible. These devices do not see, hear, or communicate with one another because they utilize different frequency bands and different modulation techniques.

Troubleshooting Wireless LAN Installations

System Throughput

Throughput on a wireless LAN is based on many factors. For instance, the amount and type of interference may impact the amount of data that can be successfully transmitted. If additional security solutions are implemented, such as Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP—discussed in depth in Chapter 10, Wireless LAN Security), then the additional overhead of encrypting and decrypting data will also cause a decrease in throughput. Using VPN tunnels will add additional overhead to a wireless LAN system in the same manner as will turning on WEP.

Greater distances between the transmitter and receiver will cause the throughput to decrease because an increase in the number of errors (bit error rate) will create a need for retransmissions. Modern spread spectrum systems are configured to make discrete jumps
to specified data rates (1, 2, 5.5, and 11 Mbps). If 11 Mbps cannot be maintained, for example, then the device will drop to 5.5 Mbps. Since the throughput is about 50% of the data rate on a wireless LAN system, changing the data rate will have a significant impact on the throughput.

Hardware limitations will also dictate the data rate. If an IEEE 802.11 device is communicating with an IEEE 802.11b device, the data rate can be no more than 2 Mbps, despite the 802.11b device’s ability to communicate at 11 Mbps. Correspondingly, the actual throughput will be less still—about 50%, or 1 Mbps. With wireless LAN hardware, another consideration must be taken into account: the amount of CPU power given to the access point. Having a slow CPU that cannot handle the full 11 Mbps data rate with128-bit WEP enabled will affect throughput.


The type of spread spectrum technology used, FHSS or DSSS, will make a difference in throughput for two specific reasons. First, the data rates for FHSS and DSSS systems are quite different. FHSS systems are typically in compliance with either the OpenAir standard and can transmit at 800 kbps or 1.6 Mbps, or the IEEE 802.11 standard, which allows them to transmit at 1 Mbps or 2 Mbps. Currently, DSSS systems comply with either the IEEE 802.11 standard or the 802.11b standard, supporting data rates of 1, 2, 5.5, & 11 Mbps. The second reason that the type of spread spectrum technology will affect throughput is that FHSS incurs the additional overhead of hop time.

Other factors limiting the throughput of a wireless LAN include proprietary data-link layer protocols, the use of fragmentation (which requires the re-assembly of packets), and packet size. Larger packets will result in greater throughput (assuming a good RF link) because the ratio of data to overhead is better.

RTS/CTS, a protocol used on some wireless LAN implementations and which is similar to the way that some serial links communicate, will create significant overhead because of the amount of handshaking that takes place during the transfer.

The number of users attempting to access the medium simultaneously will have an impact. An increase in simultaneous users will decrease the throughput each station receives from the access point.

Using PCF mode on an access point, thereby invoking polling on the wireless network, will decrease throughput. Polling causes lower throughput by introducing the extra overhead of a polling mechanism and mandatory responses from wireless stations even when no data needs to be sent by those stations.


Co-location Throughput (Theory vs. Reality)

Co-location is a common wireless LAN implementation technique that is used to provide more bandwidth and throughput to wireless users in a given area. RF theory, combined with FCC regulations, allows wireless LAN users in the United States three nonoverlapping RF channels (1, 6, and 11). These 3 channels can be used to co-locate multiple (3) access points within the same physical area using 802.11b equipment, as can be seen in Figure 9.9.


When co-locating multiple access points, it is highly recommended that you:

1. Use the same Spread Spectrum technology (either Direct Sequence or Frequency Hopping, but not both) for all access points

2. Use the same vendor for all access points

The portion of the 2.4 GHz ISM band that is useable for wireless LANs consists of 83.5 MHz. DSSS channels are 22 MHz wide, and there are 11 channels specified for use in the United States. These channels are specifically designated ranges of frequencies within the ISM band. According to the center frequency and width given to each of these channels by the FCC, only three non-overlapping channels can exist in this band. Colocation of access points using non-overlapping channels in the same physical space has advantages in implementing wireless LANs, so we will first explain what should happen when you co-locate these access points properly, and then we will explain what will happen.

Theory: What Should Happen

For purposes of simplicity in this explanation, we will assume that all access points being used in this scenario are 802.11b-compliant, 11Mbps access points. When using only one access point in a simple wireless LAN, you should experience actual throughput of somewhere between 4.5 Mbps and 5.5 Mbps. You will never see the full 11 Mbps of rated bandwidth due to the half-duplex nature of the RF radios and overhead requirements for wireless LAN protocols such as CSMA/CA.

The RF theory of 3 non-overlapping channels should allow you to setup one access point on channel 1, one access point on channel 6, and one access point on channel 11 without any overlap in these access points' RF band usages. Therefore, you should see normal throughput of approximately 5 Mbps on all co-located access points, with no adjacentchannel interference. Adjacent-channel interference would cause degradation of throughput on one or both of the other access points.

Reality: What Does Happen

What actually happens is that channel 1 and channel 6 actually do have a small amount of overlap, as do channel 6 and channel 11. Figure 9.10 illustrates this overlap. The reason for this overlap is typically that both access points are transmitting at approximately the same high output power and are located relatively close to each other. So, instead of getting normal half-duplex throughput on all access points, a detrimental effect is seen on all three. Throughput can decrease to 4 Mbps or less on all three access points or may be unevenly distributed where the access points might have 3, 4, and 5 Mbps respectively.


The portion of the theory that holds true is that adjacent channels (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, for example) have significant overlap, to the point that using an access point on channel 1 and another on channel 3, for example, results in even lower throughput (2Mbps or less) on the two access points. In this case, in particular, a partial overlapping of channels occurs. It is typically seen that a full overlap results in better throughput for the two systems than does a partial overlap between systems.

All this discussion is not to say that you simply cannot co-locate three access points using channels 1, 6, and 11. Rather, it is to point out that when you do so, you should not expect the theory to hold completely true. You will experience degraded throughput that is significantly less than the normally expected rate of approximately 5 Mbps per access point unless care is taken to turn down the output power and spread the access points across a broader amount of physical space.

Wireless LAN Implementation Challenges

Near/Far

The near/far problem in wireless LAN implementation results from the scenario in which there exists multiple client nodes that are (a) very near to the access point and (b) have high power settings; and then at least one client that is (a) much farther away from the access point than the aforementioned client nodes, and (b) is using much less transmitting power than the other client nodes. The result of this type of situation is that the client(s) that are farther away from the access point and using less power simply cannot be heard over the traffic from the closer, high-powered clients, as illustrated in Figure 9.8.


Near/far is similar in nature to a crowd of people all screaming at one time into a microphone, and one person whispering from fifty feet away from that same microphone. The voice of the person 50 feet away is not going to reach the microphone over the noise of the crowd shouting near the microphone. Even if the microphone is sensitive enough to pick up the whisper under silent conditions, the high-powered close-range conversations have effectively raised the noise floor to a point where low-amplitude inputs are not heard.

Getting back to wireless LANs, the node that is being drowned out is well within the normal range of the access point, but it simply cannot be heard over the signals of the other clients. What this means to you as an administrator is that you must be aware of the possibility of the near/far problem during site surveys and understand how to overcome the problem through proper wireless LAN design and troubleshooting techniques.


Troubleshooting Near/Far

Troubleshooting the near/far problem is normally as simple as taking a good look at the network design, locations of stations on the wireless network, and transmission output power of each node. These steps will give the administrator clues as to what is likely going on with the stations having connectivity problems. Since near/far prevents a node from communicating, the administrator should check to see if the station has drivers loaded properly for the wireless radio card and has associated with the access point (shown in the association table of the access point).

The next step in troubleshooting near/far is use of a wireless sniffer. A wireless sniffer will pick up transmissions from all stations it hears. One simple method of finding nodes whose signals are not being heard by the access point is to move around the network looking for stations with a faint signal in relation to the access point and nodes near the access point. Using this method, it should not be too time-consuming to locate such a node, depending on the size of the network and the complexity of the building structure. Locating this node and comparing its signal strength to that of nodes near the access point can solve the near/far problem fairly quickly.

Solutions for Near/Far

Although the near/far problem can be debilitating for those clients whose RF signals get drowned out, near/far is a relatively easy problem to overcome in most situations. It is
imperative to understand that the CSMA/CA protocol solves much of the near/far problem with no intervention of the administrator. If a node can hear another node transmitting, it will stop its own transmissions, complying with shared medium access rules of CSMA/CA. However, if for any reason the near/far problem still exists in the network, below is a list of remedies that are easily implemented and can overcome the near/far problem.

• Increase power to remote node (the one that is being drowned out)

• Decrease power of local nodes (the close, loud ones)

• Move the remote node closer to the access point

One other solution is moving the access point to which the remote node is associated. However, this solution should be viewed as a last resort, since moving an access point will likely disrupt more clients than it would help. Furthermore, the need to move an access point likely reveals a flawed site survey or network design, which is a much bigger problem.

Troubleshooting Hidden Node

The primary symptom of a hidden node is degraded throughput over the wireless LAN. Many times you will discover that you have a hidden node by hearing the complaints of users connected to the wireless LAN detecting an unusual sluggishness of the network. Throughput may be decreased by up to 40% because of a hidden node problem. Since wireless LANs use the CSMA/CA protocol, they already have an approximate overhead of 50%, but, during a hidden node problem, it is possible to lose almost half of the remaining throughput on the system.

Because the nature of a wireless LAN increases mobility, you may encounter a hidden node at any time, despite a flawless design of your wireless LAN. If a user moves his computer to a conference room, another office, or into a data room, the new location of that node can potentially be hidden from the rest of the nodes connected to your wireless LAN.


Solutions for Hidden Node

Once you have done the troubleshooting and discovered that there is a hidden node problem, the problem node(s) must be located. Finding the node(s) will include a manual search for nodes that might be out of reach of the main cluster of nodes. This process is usually trial and error at best. Once these nodes are located, there are several remedies and workarounds for the problem.

• Use RTS/CTS

• Increase power to the nodes

• Remove obstacles

• Move the node

Use RTS/CTS
The RTS/CTS protocol is not necessarily a solution to the hidden node problem. Instead, it is a method of reducing the negative impact that hidden nodes have on the network. Hidden nodes cause excessive collisions, which have a severely detrimental impact on network throughput. The RTS/CTS (request-to-send/clear-to-send) protocol involves sending a small packet (RTS) to the intended recipient to prompt it to send back a packet (CTS) clearing the medium for data transmission before sending the data payload. This process informs any nearby stations that data is about to be sent, having them delay transmissions (and thereby avoiding collisions). Both the RTS and the CTS contain the length of the impending data transmission so that stations overhearing either the RTS or CTS frames know how long the transmission will take and when they can start to transmit again.

There are three settings for RTS/CTS on most access points and clients: On, Off, and On with Threshold. The network administrator must manually configure RTS/CTS settings. The Off setting is the default in order to reduce unnecessary network overhead caused by the RTS/CTS protocol. The threshold refers directly to the packet size that will trigger use of the RTS/CTS protocol. Since hidden nodes cause collisions, and collisions mainly affect larger packets, you may be able to overcome the hidden node problem by using the packet size threshold setting for RTS/CTS. What this setting essentially does is tell the access point to transmit all packets that are greater in size than “x” (your setting) using RTS/CTS and to transmit all other packets without RTS/CTS. If the hidden node is only having a minor impact on network throughput, then activating RTS/CTS might have a detrimental effect on throughput.

Try using RTS/CTS in the “On” mode as a test to see if your throughput is positively affected. If RTS/CTS increases throughput, then you have most likely confirmed the hidden node problem. You will encounter some additional overhead when using RTS/CTS, but your overall throughput should increase over what it was when the hidden node problem occurred.


Increase Power to the Nodes
Increasing the power (measured in milliwatts) of the nodes can solve the hidden node problem by allowing the cell around each node to increase in size, encompassing all of the other nodes. This configuration enables the non-hidden nodes to detect, or hear, the hidden node. If the non-hidden nodes can hear the hidden node, the hidden node is no longer hidden. Because wireless LANs use the CSMA/CA protocol, nodes will wait their turn before communicating with the access point.


Remove Obstacles
Increasing the power on your mobile nodes may not work if, for example, the reason one node is hidden is that there is a cement or steel wall preventing communication with other nodes. It is doubtful that you would be able to remove such an obstacle, but removal of the obstacle is another method of remedy for the hidden node problem. Keep these types of obstacles in mind when performing a site survey.


Move the Node
Another method of solving the hidden node problem is moving the nodes so that they can all hear each other. If you have found that the hidden node problem is the result of a user moving his computer to an area that is hidden from the other wireless nodes, you may have to force that user to move again. The alternative to forcing users to move is extending your wireless LAN to add proper coverage to the hidden area, perhaps using additional access points.

Troubleshooting Multipath

An in-phase or out-of-phase RF wave cannot be seen, so we must look for the effects of multipath in order to detect its occurrence. When doing a link budget calculation, in order to find out just how much power output you will need to have a successful link between sites, you might calculate an output power level that should work, but doesn't. Such an occurrence is one way to determine that multipath is occurring.

Another common method of finding multipath is to look for RF coverage holes in a site survey (discussed in Chapter 11). These holes are created both by lack of coverage and by multipath reflections that cancel the main signal. Understanding the sources of multipath is crucial to eliminating its effects.

Multipath is caused by reflected RF waves, so obstacles that more easily reflect RF waves, such as metal blinds, bodies of water, and metal roofs, should be removed from or avoided in the signal path if possible. This procedure may include moving the transmitting and receiving antennas. Multipath is likely the most common "textbook" wireless LAN problem. Administrators and installers deal with multipath daily. Even wireless LAN users - because they are mobile - experience problems with multipath. Users may roam into an area with high multipath, not knowing why their RF signal has been so significantly degraded.


Solutions for Multipath

Antenna diversity was devised for the purpose of compensating for multipath. Antenna diversity means using multiple antennas, inputs, and receivers in order to compensate for the conditions that cause multipath. There are four types of receiving antenna diversity, one of which is predominantly used in wireless LANs. The type of transmission diversity used by wireless LANs is also described below.

• Antenna Diversity - not active

• Switching Diversity

• Antenna Switching Diversity – active

• Phase Diversity

• Diversity Transmission

Figure 9.6 illustrates an access point with multiple antennas to compensate for multipath.


Antenna diversity is made up of the following characteristics that work together to compensate for the effects of multipath:

1. Antenna diversity uses multiple antennas on multiple inputs to bring a signal to a single receiver.

2. The incoming RF signal is received through one antenna at a time. The receiving radio is constantly sampling the incoming signals from both antennas to determine which signal is of a higher quality. The receiving radio then chooses to accept the higher quality signal.

3. The radio transmits its next signal out of the antenna that was last used to receive an incoming signal because the received signal was a higher quality signal than from the other antenna. If the radio must retransmit a signal, it will alternate antennas until a successful transmission is made.

4. Finally, each antenna can be used to transmit or receive, but not both at the same time. Only one antenna may be used at a time, and that antenna may only transmit or receive, but not both, at any given instant.


Most access points in today’s wireless LANs are built with dual antennas for exactly this purpose: to compensate for the degrading effects of multipath on signal quality and throughput.


Hidden Node

Multiple access protocols that enable networked computing devices to share a medium, such as Ethernet, are well developed and understood. However the nature of the wireless medium makes traditional methods of sharing a common connection more difficult.

Collision detection has caused many problems in wired networking, and even more so for wireless networks. Collisions occur when two or more nodes sharing a communication medium transmit data simultaneously. The two signals corrupt each other and the result is a group of unreadable packet fragments. Collisions have always been a problem for computer networks, and the simplest protocols often do not overcome this problem. More complex protocols such as CSMA/CD and CSMA/CA check the channel before transmitting data. CSMA/CD is the protocol used with Ethernet and involves checking the voltage on the wire before transmitting. However, the process is considerably more difficult for wireless systems since collisions are undetectable. A condition known as the hidden node problem has been identified in wireless systems and is caused by problems in transmission detection.

Hidden node is a situation encountered with wireless LANs in which at least one node is unable to hear (detect) one or more of the other nodes connected to the wireless LAN. In this situation, a node can see the access point, but cannot see that there are other clients also connected to the same access point due to some obstacle or a large amount of distance between the nodes. This situation causes a problem in medium access sharing, causing collisions between node transmissions. These collisions can result in significantly degraded throughput in the wireless LAN, as illustrated in Figure 9.7.


Figure 9.7 illustrates a brick wall with an access point sitting on top. On each side of the wall is a wireless station. These wireless stations cannot hear each other's transmissions, but both can hear the transmissions of the access point. If station A is transmitting a frame to the access point, and station B cannot hear this transmission, station B assumes that the medium is clear and can begin a transmission of its own to the access point. The access point will, at this point, be receiving transmissions that have originated at two points and there will be a collision. The collision will cause retransmissions by both stations A & B, and again, since they cannot hear each other, they will transmit at will thinking the medium is clear. There will likely be another collision. This problem is exacerbated with many active nodes on the wireless LAN that cannot hear one another.

Troubleshooting Wireless LAN Installations

Nulling

The condition known as nulling occurs when one or more reflected waves arrive at the receiver out-of-phase with the main wave with such amplitude that the main wave's amplitude is cancelled. As illustrated in Figure 9.4, when reflected waves arrive out-ofphase with the main wave at the receiver, the condition can cancel or “null” the entire set of RF waves, including the main wave.


When nulling occurs, retransmission of the data will not solve the problem. The transmitter, receiver, or reflective objects must be moved. Sometimes more than one of these must be relocated to compensate for the nulling effects on the RF wave.


Increased Signal Amplitude

Multipath conditions can also cause a signal’s amplitude to be increased from what it would have been without reflected waves present. Upfade is the term used to describe when multipath causes an RF signal to gain strength. Upfade, as illustrated in Figure 9.5, occurs due to reflected signals arriving at the receiver in-phase with the main signal. Similar to a decreased signal, all of these waves are additive to the main signal. Under no circumstance can multipath cause the signal that reaches the receiver to be stronger than the transmitted signal when the signal left the transmitting device. If multipath occurs in such a way as to be additive to the main signal, the total signal that reaches the receiver will be stronger than the signal would have otherwise been without multipath present.


It is important to understand that a received RF signal can never be as large as the signal that was transmitted due to the significance of free space path loss (usually called path loss). Path loss is the effect of a signal losing amplitude due to expansion as the signal travels through open space.

Think of path loss as someone blowing a bubble with bubble gum. As the gum expands, the gum at any point becomes thinner. If someone were to reach out and grab a 1-inch square piece of this bubble, the amount of gum they would actually get would be less and less as the bubble expanded. If a person grabbed a piece of the bubble while it was still small (close to the person's mouth, which is the transmitter) the person would get a significant amount of gum. If the person waited to get that same size piece until the bubble were large (further from the transmitter), the piece would be only a very small amount of gum. This illustration shows that path loss is affected by two factors: first, the distance between transmitter and receiver, and second, the size of the receiving aperture (the size of the piece of gum that was grabbed).

Troubleshooting Wireless LAN Installations

Just as traditional wired networks have challenges during implementation, wireless LANs have their own set of challenges, mainly dealing with the behavior of RF signals. In this chapter, we will discuss the more common obstacles to successful implementation of a wireless LAN, and how to troubleshoot them. There are different methods of discovering when these challenges exist, and each of the challenges discussed has its remedies and workarounds.

The challenges to implementing any wireless LAN discussed herein are considered by many to be “textbook” problems that can occur within any wireless LAN installation, and, therefore, can be avoided by careful planning and simply being aware that these problems can and will occur.


Multipath

If you will recall from Chapter 2, RF Fundamentals, there are two types of line of sight (LOS). First, there is visual LOS, which is what the human eye sees. Visual LOS is your first and most basic LOS test. If you can see the RF receiver from the installation point of the RF transmitter, then you have visual line of sight. Second, and different from visual LOS, is RF line of sight. RF LOS is what your RF device can “see”.

The general behavior of an RF signal is to grow wider as it is transmitted farther. Because of this type of behavior, the RF signal will encounter objects in its path that will reflect, diffract, or otherwise interfere with the signal. When an RF wave is reflected off an object (water, tin roof, other metal object, etc.) while moving towards its receiver, multiple wave fronts are created (one for each reflection point). There are now waves moving in many directions, and many of these reflected waves are still headed toward the receiver. This behavior is where we get the term multipath, as shown in Figure 9.1. Multipath is defined as the composition of a primary signal plus duplicate or echoed wave fronts caused by reflections of waves off objects between the transmitter and receiver. The delay between the instant that the main signal arrives and the instant that the last reflected signal arrives is known as delay spread.


Effects of Multipath

Multipath can cause several different conditions, all of which can affect the transmission of the RF signal differently. These conditions include:

• Decreased Signal Amplitude (downfade)

• Corruption

• Nulling

• Increased Signal Amplitude (upfade)

Decreased Signal Amplitude

When an RF wave arrives at the receiver, many reflected waves may arrive at the same time from different directions. The combination of these waves' amplitudes is additive to the main RF wave. Reflected waves, if out-of-phase with the main wave, can cause decreased signal amplitude at the receiver, as illustrated in Figure 9.2. This occurrence is commonly referred to as downfade and should be taken into consideration when conducting a sight survey and selecting appropriate antennas.


Corruption

Corrupted signals (waves) due to multipath can occur as a result of the same phenomena that cause decreased amplitude, but to a greater degree. When reflected waves arrive at the receiver out-of-phase with the main wave, as illustrated in Figure 9.3, they can cause the wave to be greatly reduced in amplitude instead of only slightly reduced. The amplitude reduction is such that the receiver is sensitive enough to detect most of the information being carried on the wave, but not all.


In such cases, the signal to noise ratio (SNR) is generally very low, where the signal itself is very close to the noise floor. The receiver is unable to clearly decipher between the information signal and noise, causing the data that is received to be only part (if any) of the transmitted data. This corruption of data will require the transmitter to resend the data, increasing overhead and decreasing throughput in the wireless LAN.

Modulation

Modulation, which is a Physical Layer function, is a process in which the radio transceiver prepares the digital signal within the NIC for transmission over the airwaves. Modulation is the process of adding data to a carrier by altering the amplitude, frequency, or phase of the carrier in a controlled manner. Knowing the many different kinds of modulations used with wireless LANs is helpful when trying to build a compatible network piece-by-piece.


Figure 8.9 shows the details of modulation and spreading code types used with Frequency Hopping and Direct Sequence wireless LANs in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. Differential Binary Phase Shift Keying (DBPSK), Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (DQPSK), and Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying (GFSK) are the types of modulation used by 802.11 and 802.11b products on the market today. Barker Code and Complimentary Code Keying (CCK) are the types of spreading codes used in 802.11 and 802.11b wireless LANs.

As higher transmission speeds are specified (such as when a system is using DRS), modulation techniques change in order to provide more data throughput. For example, 802.11g and 802.11a compliant wireless LAN equipment specify use of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), allowing speeds of up to 54 Mbps, which is a significant improvement over the 11 Mbps specified by 802.11b. Figure 8.10 shows the modulation types used for 802.11a networks. The 802.11g standard provides backwards compatibility by supporting CCK coding and even supports packet binary convolution coding (PBCC) as an option. Bluetooth and HomeRF are both FHSS technologies that use GFSK modulation technology in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.


Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a communications technique that divides a communications channel into a number of equally spaced frequency bands. A subcarrier carrying a portion of the user information is transmitted in each band. Each subcarrier is orthogonal (independent of each other) with every other subcarrier, differentiating OFDM from the commonly used frequency division multiplexing (FDM).

How Wireless LANs Communicate

Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS)

There are two carrier sense mechanisms used on wireless networks. The first is physical carrier sense. Physical carrier sense functions by checking the signal strength, called the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), on the RF carrier signal to see if there is a station currently transmitting. The second is virtual carrier sense. Virtual carrier sense works by using a field called the Network Allocation Vector (NAV), which acts as a timer on the station. If a station wishes to broadcast its intention to use the network, the station sends a frame to the destination station, which will set the NAV field on all stations hearing the frame to the time necessary for the station to complete its transmission, plus the returning ACK frame. In this way, any station can reserve use of the network for specified periods of time. Virtual carrier sense is implemented with the RTS/CTS protocol.

The RTS/CTS protocol is an extension of the CSMA/CA protocol. As the wireless LAN administrator, you can take advantage of using this protocol to solve problems like Hidden Node (discussed in Chapter 9, Troubleshooting). Using RTS/CTS allows stations to broadcast their intent to send data across the network.

As you can imagine by the brief description above, RTS/CTS will cause significant network overhead. For this reason RTS/CTS is turned OFF by default on a wireless LAN. If you are experiencing an unusual amount of collisions on your wireless LAN (evidenced by high latency and low throughput) using RTS/CTS can actually increase the traffic flow on the network by decreasing the number of collisions. Use of RTS/CTS should not be done haphazardly. RTS/CTS should be configured after careful study of the network's collisions, throughput, latency, etc.

Figure 8.7 illustrates the 4-way handshake process used for RTS/CTS. In short, the transmitting station broadcasts the RTS, followed by the CTS reply from the receiving station, both of which go through the access point. Next, the transmitting station sends its data payload through the access point to the receiving station, which immediately replies with an acknowledgement frame, or ACK. This process is used for every frame that is sent across the wireless network.


Configuring RTS/CTS

There are three settings on most access points and nodes for RTS/CTS:

• Off

• On

• On with Threshold

When RTS/CTS is turned on, every packet that goes through the wireless network is announced and cleared between the transmitting and receiving nodes prior to transmission, creating a significant amount of overhead and significantly less throughput. Generally, RTS/CTS should only be used in diagnosing network problems and when only very large packets are flowing across a congested wireless network, which is rare.

However, the “on with threshold” setting allows the administrator to control which packets (over a certain size - called the threshold) are announced and cleared to send by the stations. Since collisions affect larger packets more than smaller ones, you can set the RTS/CTS threshold to work only when a node wishes to send packets over a certain size. This setting allows you to customize the RTS/CTS setting to your network data traffic and optimize the throughput of your wireless LAN while preventing problems like Hidden Node.

Figure 8.8 depicts a DCF network using the RTS/CTS protocol to transmit data. Notice that the RTS and CTS transmissions are spaced by SIFS. The NAV is set with RTS on all nodes, and then reset on all nodes by the immediately following CTS.

Interframe Spacing

Interframe spacing doesn’t sound like something an administrator would need to know; however, if you don’t understand the types of interframe spacing, you cannot effectively grasp RTS/CTS, which helps you solve problems, or DCF and PCF, which are manually configured in the access point. Both of these functions are integral in the ongoing communications process of a wireless LAN. First, we will define each type of interframe space (IFS), and then we will explain how each type works on the wireless LAN.

As we learned when we discussed beacons, all stations on a wireless LAN are timesynchronized. All the stations on a wireless LAN are effectively ‘ticking’ time in sync with one another. Interframe spacing is the term we use to refer to standardized time spaces that are used on all 802.11 wireless LANs.


Three Types of Spacing

There are three main spacing intervals (interframe spaces): SIFS, DIFS, and PIFS. Each type of interframe space is used by a wireless LAN either to send certain types of messages across the network or to manage the intervals during which the stations contend for the transmission medium. Figure 8.3 illustrates the actual times that each interframe space takes for each type of 802.11 technology.


Interframe spaces are measured in microseconds and are used to defer a station's access to the medium and to provide various levels of priority. On a wireless network, everything is synchronized and all stations and access points use standard amounts of time (spaces) to perform various tasks. Each node knows these spaces and uses them appropriately. A set of standard spaces is specified for DSSS, FHSS, and Infrared as you can see from Figure 8.3. By using these spaces, each node knows when and if it is supposed to perform a certain action on the network.

Short Interframe Space (SIFS)

SIFS is the shortest fixed interframe space. SIFS are time spaces before and after which the following types of messages are sent. The list below is not an exhaustive list.

• RTS - Request-to-Send frame, used for reserving the medium by stations

• CTS - Clear-to-Send frame, used as a response by access points to the RTS frame generated by a station in order to ensure all stations have stopped transmitting

• ACK - Acknowledgement frame used for notifying sending stations that data arrived in readable format at the receiving station

SIFS provide the highest level of priority on a wireless LAN. The reason for SIFS having the highest priority is that stations constantly listen to the medium (carrier sense) awaiting a clear medium. Once the medium is clear, each station must wait a given amount of time (spacing) before proceeding with a transmission. The length of time a station must wait is determined by the function the station needs to perform. Each function on a wireless network falls into a spacing category. Tasks that are high priority fall into the SIFS category. If a station only has to wait a short period of time after the medium is clear to begin its transmissions, it would have priority over stations having to wait longer periods of time. SIFS is used for functions requiring a very short period of time, yet needing high priority in order to accomplish the goal.


Point Coordination Function Interframe Space (PIFS)

A PIFS interframe space is neither the shortest nor longest fixed interframe space, so it gets more priority than DIFS and less than SIFS. Access points use a PIFS interframe space only when the network is in point coordination function mode, which is manually configured by the administrator. PIFS are shorter in duration than DIFS (see Figure 8.3), so the access point will always win control of the medium before other contending stations in distributed coordination function (DCF) mode. PCF only works with DCF, not as a stand-alone operational mode so that, once the access point is finished polling, other stations can continue to contend for the transmission medium using DCF mode.


Distributed Coordination Function Interframe Space (DIFS)

DIFS is the longest fixed interframe space and is used by default on all 802.11-compliant stations that are using the distributed coordination function. Each station on the network using DCF mode is required to wait until DIFS has expired before any station can contend for the network. All stations operating according to DCF use DIFS for transmitting data frames and management frames. This spacing makes the transmission of these frames lower priority than PCF-based transmissions. Instead of all stations assuming the medium is clear and arbitrarily beginning transmissions simultaneously after DIFS (which would cause collisions), each station uses a random back off algorithm to determine how long to wait before sending its data.

The period of time directly following DIFS is referred to as the contention period (CP). All stations in DCF mode use the random back off algorithm during the contention period. During the random back off process, a station chooses a random number and multiplies it by the slot time to get the length of time to wait. The stations count down these slot times one by one, performing a clear channel assessment (CCA) after each slot time to see if the medium is busy. Whichever station's random back off time expires first, that station does a CCA, and provided the medium is clear, it then begins transmission.

Once the first station has begun transmissions all other stations sense that the medium is busy, and remember the remaining amount of their random back off time from the previous CP. This remaining amount of time is used in lieu of picking another random number during the next CP. This process assures fair access to the medium among all stations.

Once the random back off period is over, the transmitting station sends its data and receives back the ACK from the receiving station. This entire process then repeats. It stands to reason that most stations will chose different random numbers, eliminating most collisions. However, it is important to remember that collisions do happen on wireless LANs, but they cannot directly be detected. Collisions are assumed by the fact that the ACK is not received back from the destination station.

The Communications Process

When you consider the PIFS process described above, it may seem as though the access point would always have control over the medium, since the access point does not have to wait for DIFS, but the stations do. This would be true, except for the existence of what is called a superframe. A superframe is a period of time, and it consists of three parts:

1. Beacon
2. Contention Free Period (CFP)
3. Contention Period (CP)

A diagram of the superframe is shown in Figure 8.4. The purpose of the superframe is to allow peaceful, fair co-existence between PCF and DCF mode clients on the network, allowing QoS for some, but not for others.

Again, remember that PIFS, and hence the superframe, only occurs when

1. The network is in point coordination function mode
2. The access point has been configured to do polling
3. The wireless clients have been configured to announce to the access point that they are pollable


Therefore, if we start from a hypothetical beginning point on a network that has the access point configured for PCF mode, and the some of the clients are configured for polling, the process is as follows.

1. The access point broadcasts a beacon.

2. During the contention free period, the access point polls stations to see if any station needs to send data.

3. If a station needs to send data, it sends one frame to the access point in response to the access point’s poll

4. If a station does not need to send data, it returns a null frame to the access point in response to the access point’s poll

5. Polling continues throughout the contention free period

6. Once the contention free period ends and the contention period begins, the access point can no longer poll stations. During the contention period, stations using DCF mode contend for the medium and the access point uses DCF mode.

7. The superframe ends with the end of the CP, and a new one begins with the following CFP.

Think of the CFP as using a "controlled access policy" and the CP as using a "random access policy." During the CFP, the access point is in complete control of all functions on the wireless network, whereas during the CP, stations arbitrate and randomly gain control over the medium. The access point, in PCF mode, does not have to wait for the DIFS to expire, but rather uses the PIFS, which is shorter than the DIFS, in order to capture the medium before any client using DCF mode does. Since the access point captures the medium and begins polling transmissions during the CFP, the DCF clients sense the medium as being busy and wait to transmit. After the CFP the CP begins, during which all stations using DCF mode may contend for the medium and the access point switches to DCF mode.

Figure 8.5 illustrates a short timeline for a wireless LAN using DCF and PCF modes.


The process is somewhat simpler when a wireless LAN is only in DCF mode, because there is no polling and, hence, no superframe. This process is as follows:

1. Stations wait for DIFS to expire

2. During the CP, which immediately follows DIFS, stations calculate their random back off time based on a random number multiplied by a slot time

3. Stations tick down their random time with each passing slot time, checking the medium (CCA) at the end of each slot time. The station with the shortest time gains control of the medium first.

4. A station sends its data.

5. The receiving station receives the data and waits a SIFS before returning an ACK back to the station that transmitted the data.

6. The transmitting station receives the ACK and the process starts over from the beginning with a new DIFS.