Chapter 6

Wireless and Mobile

Networks

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6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-1
Chapter 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks
Background:
 # wireless (mobile) phone subscribers now
exceeds # wired phone subscribers!
 computer nets: laptops, palmtops, PDAs,
Internet-enabled phone promise anytime
untethered Internet access
 two important (but different) challenges
 wireless: communication over wireless link
 mobility: handling the mobile user who changes
point of attachment to network

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-2

Chapter 6 outline
6.1 Introduction Mobility
 6.5 Principles:
Wireless addressing and
 6.2 Wireless links, routing to mobile
users
characteristics
 6.6 Mobile IP
 CDMA
 6.3 IEEE 802.11  6.7 Handling mobility
wireless LANs (“wi- in cellular networks
fi”)  6.8 Mobility and
 6.4 Cellular Internet higher-layer protocols
Access
 architecture 6.9 Summary
 standards (e.g., GSM)
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-3
Elements of a wireless network

wireless hosts
 laptop, PDA, IP phone
 run applications
 may be stationary
(non-mobile) or
network mobile
infrastructure  wireless does not
always mean
mobility

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-4

Elements of a wireless network
base station
 typically connected to
wired network
 relay - responsible for
sending packets
between wired network
and wireless host(s) in
network its “area”
 e.g., cell towers,
infrastructure
802.11 access points

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-5

Elements of a wireless network
wireless link
 typically used to
connect mobile(s) to
base station
 also used as backbone
link
 multiple access protocol
network coordinates link access
infrastructure  various data rates,
transmission distance

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-6

 Characteristics of selected wireless link
standards

200 802.11n

54 802.11a,g 802.11a,g point-to-point data

Data rate (Mbps)

5-11 802.11b 802.16 (WiMAX)

4 UMTS/WCDMA-HSPDA, CDMA2000-1xEVDO 3G cellular

enhanced
1 802.15

.384 UMTS/WCDMA, CDMA2000 3G

.056 IS-95, CDMA, GSM 2G

Indoor Outdoor Mid-range Long-range

10-30m 50-200m outdoor outdoor
200m – 4 Km 5Km – 20 Km

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-7

Elements of a wireless network
infrastructure mode
 base station
connects mobiles
into wired network
 handoff: mobile
changes base
network station providing
infrastructure connection into
wired network

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-8

Elements of a wireless network
ad hoc mode
 no base stations
 nodes can only
transmit to other nodes
within link coverage
 nodes organize
themselves into a
network: route among
themselves

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-9

Wireless network taxonomy
single hop multiple hops

host connects to host may have to

infrastructure base station (WiFi, relay through several
(e.g., APs) WiMAX, cellular) wireless nodes to
which connects to connect to larger
larger Internet Internet: mesh net

no base station, no
no
connection to larger
no base station, no
infrastructure Internet. May have to
connection to larger
relay to reach other
Internet (Bluetooth,
a given wireless node
ad hoc nets)
MANET, VANET

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-10

Wireless Link Characteristics (1)
Differences from wired link ….

 decreased signal strength: radio signal

attenuates as it propagates through matter
(path loss)
 interference from other sources:
standardized wireless network frequencies
(e.g., 2.4 GHz) shared by other devices
(e.g., phone); devices (motors) interfere as
well
 multipath propagation: radio signal reflects
off objects ground, arriving ad destination at
slightly different times

…. make communication across (even a point to

point) wireless link much more “difficult”
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-11
Wireless Link Characteristics (2)
 SNR: signal-to-noise ratio 10-1

 larger SNR – easier to 10-2

extract signal from noise (a
“good thing”) 10-3

 SNR versus BER tradeoffs

BER
10-4
 given physical layer:
10-5
increase power -> increase
SNR->decrease BER 10-6
 given SNR: choose physical
layer that meets BER 10-7
10 20 30 40
requirement, giving highest SNR(dB)
thruput
• SNR may change with QAM256 (8 Mbps)
mobility: dynamically QAM16 (4 Mbps)
adapt physical layer
(modulation technique, BPSK (1 Mbps)
rate) 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-12
Wireless network characteristics
Multiple wireless senders and receivers create
additional problems (beyond multiple access):

A B C
C

A’s signal C’s signal

B strength strength
A

space
Hidden terminal problem
 B, A hear each other Signal attenuation:
 B, A hear each other
 B, C hear each other  B, C hear each other
 A, C can not hear each  A, C can not hear each other
other interfering at B

means A, C unaware of their

interference at B
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-13
Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA)
 used in several wireless broadcast channels
(cellular, satellite, etc) standards
 unique “code” assigned to each user; i.e., code
set partitioning
 all users share same frequency, but each user
has own “chipping” sequence (i.e., code) to
encode data
 encoded signal = (original data) X (chipping
sequence)
 decoding: inner-product of encoded signal and
chipping sequence
 allows multiple users to “coexist” and transmit
simultaneously with minimal interference (if
codes are “orthogonal”)
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-14
 CDMA Encode/Decode
channel output Zi,m
Zi,m= [Link]
data d0 = 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
d1 = -1
bits -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1
sender
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 slot 1 slot 0
code channel channel
-1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1
output output
slot 1 slot 0

M
Di =  Zi,[Link]
m=1
M
received 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
d0 = 1
input -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 d1 = -1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 slot 1 slot 0
code channel channel
-1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1

receiver output output

slot 1 slot 0

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-15

CDMA: two-sender interference

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-16

Chapter 6 outline
6.1 Introduction Mobility
 6.5 Principles:
Wireless addressing and
 6.2 Wireless links, routing to mobile
users
characteristics
 6.6 Mobile IP
 CDMA
 6.3 IEEE 802.11  6.7 Handling mobility
wireless LANs (“wi- in cellular networks
fi”)  6.8 Mobility and
 6.4 cellular Internet higher-layer protocols
access
 architecture 6.9 Summary
 standards (e.g., GSM)
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-17
 IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN
 802.11b  802.11a
 2.4-2.485 GHz unlicensed  5.1-5.8 GHz range

spectrum  up to 54 Mbps

 up to 11 Mbps  802.11g
 direct sequence spread  2.4-2.485 GHz range
spectrum (DSSS) in physical  up to 54 Mbps
layer
 802.11n: multiple
• all hosts use same
antennae
chipping code
 2.4-5 GHz range
 up to 200 Mbps

 all use CSMA/CA for multiple access

 all have base-station and ad-hoc network
versions
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-18
802.11 LAN architecture
 wireless host

Internet communicates with base

station
 base station = access
point (AP)
 Basic Service Set (BSS)
hub, switch (aka “cell”) in
or router
AP infrastructure mode
contains:
BSS  wireless hosts
1 AP  access point (AP): base
station
 ad hoc mode: hosts
only
BSS 2
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-19
802.11: Channels,
association
 802.11b: 2.4GHz-2.485GHz spectrum divided into 11
channels at different frequencies
 AP admin chooses frequency for AP
 interference possible: channel can be same as that
chosen by neighboring AP!
 host: must associate with an AP
Association: wireless station creating a virtual pipe
between itself and the AP
 scans channels, listening for beacon frames
containing AP’s name (SSID) and MAC address
 selects AP to associate with
 may perform authentication SSID
service Set
 will typically run DHCP to get IP address in AP’s
Identifier
subnet

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-20

 How does any wireless station know which Aps ,
if any, are there in the WiFi Jungle?
802.11: passive/active scanning
BBS 1 BBS 2 BBS 1 BBS 2

AP 1 AP 2 AP 1 1 AP 2
1 1 2 2
2 3
3 4

H1 H1

Passive Scanning: Active Scanning:

(1) beacon frames sent from APs (1) Probe Request frame broadcast from
(2) association Request frame sent: H1 to H1
selected AP (2) Probes response frame sent from
(3) association Response frame sent: APs
Selected AP to H1 (3) Association Request frame sent: H1
to selected AP
(4) Association Response frame sent:
Selected AP to H1

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-21

IEEE 802.11: multiple access
 avoid collisions: 2+ nodes transmitting at same
time
 802.11: CSMA - sense before transmitting
 don’t collide with ongoing transmission by other node
 802.11: no collision detection!
 difficult to receive (sense collisions) when transmitting
due to weak received signals (fading)
 can’t sense all collisions in any case: hidden terminal,
fading
 goal: avoid collisions: CSMA/C(ollision)A(voidance)
A B C
C
A’s signal C’s signal
B strength strength
A
space
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-22
IEEE 802.11 MAC Protocol: CSMA/CA
802.11 sender
1 if sense channel idle for DIFS then sender receiver
transmit entire frame (no CD)
DIFS
2 if sense channel busy then
start random backoff time
timer counts down while channel idle data
transmit when timer expires
if no ACK, increase random backoff
SIFS
interval, repeat 2
ACK
802.11 receiver
- if frame received OK
return ACK after SIFS (ACK needed due
to hidden terminal problem)
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-23
Avoiding collisions (more)
idea: allow sender to “reserve” channel rather than random
access of data frames: avoid collisions of long data
frames
 sender first transmits small request-to-send (RTS) packets
to BS using CSMA
 RTSs may still collide with each other (but they’re
short)
 BS broadcasts clear-to-send CTS in response to RTS
 CTS heard by all nodes
 sender transmits data frame
 other stations defer transmissions
avoid data frame collisions completely
using small reservation packets!

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-24

 Collision Avoidance: RTS-CTS
exchange
A B
AP

RTS(A) RTS(B)

reservation collision
RTS(A)

CTS(A) CTS(A)

DATA (A)
defer

time
ACK(A) ACK(A)

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-25

 802.11 frame: addressing

2 2 6 6 6 2 6 0 - 2312 4
frame address address address seq address
duration payload CRC
control 1 2 3 control 4

Address 4: used only

in ad hoc mode
Address 1: MAC address
of wireless host or AP Address 3: MAC address
to receive this frame of router interface to
which AP is attached
Address 2: MAC address
of wireless host or AP
transmitting this frame

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-26

802.11 frame: addressing

Internet
H1 R1 router
AP

R1 MAC addr H1 MAC addr

dest. address source address

802.3 frame

AP MAC addr H1 MAC addr R1 MAC addr

address 1 address 2 address 3

802.11 frame
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-27
802.11 frame: more
frame seq #
duration of reserved
(for RDT)
transmission time (RTS/CTS)

2 2 6 6 6 2 6 0 - 2312 4
frame address address address seq address
duration payload CRC
control 1 2 3 control 4

2 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Protocol To From More Power More
Type Subtype Retry WEP Rsvd
version AP AP frag mgt data

frame type
(RTS, CTS, ACK, data)

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-28

802.11: mobility within same subnet

 H1 remains in same
router
IP subnet: IP
address can remain hub or
same switch

 switch: which AP is
BBS 1
associated with H1?
 self-learning
AP 1
(Ch. 5):
switch will see frame AP 2
from H1 and
“remember” which H1 BBS 2
switch port can be
used to reach H1

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-29

802.11: advanced capabilities
Rate Adaptation 10-1

 base station, mobile 10-2

10-3
dynamically change

BER
10-4
transmission rate 10-5

(physical layer 10-6

modulation 10-7
10 20 30 40
technique) as mobile SNR(dB)

moves, SNR varies 1. SNR decreases, BER

increase as node moves
QAM256 (8 Mbps) away from base station
QAM16 (4 Mbps)
BPSK (1 Mbps) 2. When BER becomes
operating point
too high, switch to lower
transmission rate but with
lower BER

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-30

802.11: advanced capabilities
Power Management
 node-to-AP: “I am going to sleep until next
beacon frame”
 AP knows not to transmit frames to this
node
 node wakes up before next beacon frame
 beacon frame: contains list of mobiles with
AP-to-mobile frames waiting to be sent
 node will stay awake if AP-to-mobile
frames to be sent; otherwise sleep again
until next beacon frame

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-31

Chapter 6 outline
6.1 Introduction Mobility
 6.5 Principles:
Wireless addressing and
 6.2 Wireless links, routing to mobile
users
characteristics
 6.6 Mobile IP
 CDMA
 6.3 IEEE 802.11  6.7 Handling mobility
wireless LANs (“wi- in cellular networks
fi”)  6.8 Mobility and
 6.4 Cellular Internet higher-layer protocols
Access
 architecture 6.9 Summary
 standards (e.g., GSM)
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-32
What is mobility?
 spectrum of mobility, from the network perspective:

no mobility high mobility

mobile wireless user, mobile user, mobile user,

using same access connecting/ passing through
point disconnecting multiple access
from network point while
using DHCP. maintaining
ongoing
connections (like
cell phone)
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-33
 Mobility: Vocabulary
home network: home agent: entity that will
permanent “home” of perform mobility functions
mobile on behalf of mobile, when
(e.g., 128.119.40/24)
mobile is remote

wide area
network
Permanent address:
address in home
network, can always
be used to reach
mobile correspondent
e.g., [Link]

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-34

Mobility: more vocabulary
visited network: network
Permanent address: in which mobile
remains constant (e.g., currently resides (e.g.,
[Link]) 79.129.13/24)

Care-of-address:
address in visited
network.
(e.g., 79,129.13.2)
wide area
network

foreign agent:
entity in visited
network that
correspondent: performs mobility
wants to functions on behalf
communicate with ofMobile
6: Wireless and mobile.
Networks 6-35
mobile
How do you contact a mobile friend:

Consider friend frequently I wonder where

changing addresses, how do you Alice moved to?
 find her?
search all phone
books?
 call her parents?
 expect her to let you
know where he/she
is?

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-36

Mobility: approaches
 Let routing handle it: routers advertise permanent
address of mobile-nodes-in-residence via usual
routing table exchange.
 routing tables indicate where each mobile
located
 no changes to end-systems
 Let end-systems handle it:
 indirect routing: communication from
correspondent to mobile goes through home
agent, then forwarded to remote
 direct routing: correspondent gets foreign
address of mobile, sends directly to mobile
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-37
Mobility: approaches
 Let routing handle it: routers advertise permanent
address of mobile-nodes-in-residence
not via usual
scalable
routing table exchange.
 routing tablesto millions of
indicate where each mobile
mobiles
located
 no changes to end-systems
 let end-systems handle it:
 indirect routing: communication from
correspondent to mobile goes through home
agent, then forwarded to remote
 direct routing: correspondent gets foreign
address of mobile, sends directly to mobile
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-38
Mobility: registration
visited network
home
network

1
2
wide area
network

mobile
foreign agent contacts home contacts
agent home: “this mobile is foreign agent
resident in my network” on entering
visited network
End result:
 Foreign agent knows about mobile
 Home agent knows location of mobile
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-39
Mobility via Indirect Routing
foreign agent
receives packets,
home agent intercepts forwards to mobile
packets, forwards to visited
foreign agent network
home
network
3
wide area
network
2
1
correspondent 4
addresses packets
mobile replies
using home address
directly to
of mobile
correspondent

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-40

Indirect Routing: comments
 Mobile uses two addresses:
 permanent address: used by correspondent
(hence mobile location is transparent to
correspondent)
 care-of-address: used by home agent to forward
datagrams to mobile
 foreign agent functions may be done by mobile itself
 triangle routing: correspondent-home-network-
mobile
 inefficient when

correspondent, mobile
are in same network

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-41

Indirect Routing: moving between
networks
 suppose mobile user moves to another
network
 registers with new foreign agent
 new foreign agent registers with home agent
 home agent update care-of-address for mobile
 packets continue to be forwarded to mobile
(but with new care-of-address)
 mobility, changing foreign networks
transparent: on going connections can be
maintained!

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-42

Mobility via Direct Routing
foreign agent
receives packets,
correspondent forwards to mobile
forwards to foreign visited
agent network
home
network 4
wide area
2 network
3
correspondent 1 4
requests, receives
mobile replies
foreign address of
directly to
mobile
correspondent

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-43

Mobility via Direct Routing: comments
 overcome triangle routing problem
 non-transparent to correspondent:
correspondent must get care-of-address
from home agent
 what if mobile changes visited network?

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-44

Accommodating mobility with direct
routing
 anchor foreign agent: FA in first visited network
 data always routed first to anchor FA
 when mobile moves: new FA arranges to have
data forwarded from old FA (chaining)

foreign net visited

at session start
anchor
foreign
wide area agent
2
network
1 4
3
5
new
correspondent foreign
new foreign
agent network
correspondent agent

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-45

Chapter 6 outline
6.1 Introduction Mobility
 6.5 Principles:
Wireless addressing and
 6.2 Wireless links, routing to mobile
users
characteristics
 6.6 Mobile IP
 CDMA
 6.3 IEEE 802.11  6.7 Handling mobility
wireless LANs (“wi- in cellular networks
fi”)  6.8 Mobility and
 6.4 Cellular Internet higher-layer protocols
Access
 architecture 6.9 Summary
 standards (e.g., GSM)
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-46
Mobile IP
 RFC 3344
 has many features we’ve seen:
 home agents, foreign agents, foreign-agent
registration, care-of-addresses,
encapsulation (packet-within-a-packet)
 three components to standard:
 indirect routing of datagrams
 agent discovery
 registration with home agent

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-47

 Mobile IP: indirect routing
foreign-agent-to-mobile
packet
packet sent by home agent to foreign dest: [Link]
agent: a packet within a packet

dest: [Link] dest: [Link]

Permanent
address:
[Link]
Care-of address:
[Link]
dest: [Link]
packet sent by
correspondent

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-48

 Mobile IP: agent discovery
 agent advertisement: foreign/home agents
advertise service by broadcasting ICMP
messages (typefield
0
=
8
9) 16 24

type = 9 code = 0 checksum

=9 =9
H,F bits: home standard
and/or foreign router address ICMP fields
agent
R bit: registration
required type = 16 length sequence #
RBHFMGV
registration lifetime reserved
bits mobility agent
advertisement
0 or more care-of- extension

addresses
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-49
 Mobile IP: registration
example
visited network: 79.129.13/ 24
home agent f oreign agent
HA: [Link] COA: [Link] I CMP agent adv.
Mobile agent
COA: [Link] MA: [Link]
….

registration req.
registration req. COA: [Link]
COA: [Link] HA: [Link]
HA: [Link] MA: [Link]
MA: [Link] Lifetime: 9999
Lifetime: 9999 identification:714
identification: 714 ….
encapsulation format
….

registration reply
time HA: [Link] registration reply
MA: [Link]
Lifetime: 4999 HA: [Link]
Identification: 714 MA: [Link]
encapsulation format Lifetime: 4999
…. Identification: 714
….

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-50

Wireless, mobility: impact on higher layer
protocols
 logically, impact should be minimal …
best effort service model remains unchanged
 TCP and UDP can (and do) run over wireless,
mobile
 … but performance-wise:
 packet loss/delay due to bit-errors (discarded
packets, delays for link-layer retransmissions),
and handoff
 TCP interprets loss as congestion, will decrease
congestion window un-necessarily
 delay impairments for real-time traffic
 limited bandwidth of wireless links

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-51

Chapter 6 Summary
Wireless Mobility
 wireless links:  principles: addressing,
 capacity, distance routing to mobile
 channel impairments users
 CDMA  home, visited networks
 IEEE 802.11 (“wi-fi”)  direct, indirect routing
 CSMA/CA reflects  care-of-addresses
wireless channel  case studies
characteristics  mobile IP
 cellular access  mobility in GSM
 architecture  impact on higher-layer
 standards (e.g., GSM, protocols
CDMA-2000, UMTS)

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-52