Professional Documents
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11n
Jakob Strm, Jing Wang, Elpidoforos Arapantonis, Sareh Talebi
Chalmers University of
Tecnhology, Gteborg
Email: {jakstr, jingwa, elpara, sareht}@student.chalmers.se
I. I NTRODUCTION
Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is an industrial term of 802.11
IEEE Standard that released in 1997. Like cell phones and
Televisions, 802.11 uses radio waves to provide a reliable,
fast and secure wireless connection. This connection can be
provided between electronic devices to each other, to Internet
and even to a wired Ethernet network. [1]
Communication through a wireless network is similar to a
two-way radio communication. Using an antenna, a computers
wireless adapter encodes data into a radio signal and transmits
it to a wireless router, or access point. This router receives the
signal and decodes it. To provide internet to the network, the
router can be connected to the Internet by means of a Digital
Subscriber Line (DSL) modem or a cable. Typically, it covers
an area with 61 meters length around the router and obviously
serves a better service to the computers closer to the router.
[2]
The 802.11 standards focus on the two bottom levels of the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) model.
Maximum data rate of 2 Mbps supported by Wi-Fi was
too slow for most applications. Over time the 802.11 family
progressed and represented several versions.
Since the first part of this paper is intended to peruse data
rate improvement in 802.11n it is vital to have a general
knowledge of its previous versions. The following protocols
are the ones that improve speed. [3]
A. 802.11a - 1999
This protocol is a Physical Layer (PHY) standard. It supports data rate up to 54 Mbps. It uses Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation. Operating in the 5
GHz radio frequency band there is less risk for radio frequency
Interference compared to following protocols. On the other
hand, utilizing this radio frequency means that it provides a
narrow network as well higher obstruction by obstacles such
as walls. Due to its higher cost, 802.11a is usually used by
corporations. The network can cover an area with a radius of
30 meters. 802.11a uses Binary Phase Shift Keying modulation
(BPSK), Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), 16-QAM
(Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and 64-QAM sub-carrier.
The total band width is 20 MHz. [1]
B. 802.11b - 1999
802.11b supports a maximum throughput of 11 Mbps which
although lower than that of 802.11a is still comparable to the
wired Ethernet. It utilizes 2.4 GHz radio signaling frequency
which is same as the original 802.11 standard. Although it
solves the problem of penetrating obstructions, most of the
home appliances like microwave ovens and cordless phones
use the same frequency band. Consequently this protocol
suffers the interference problem. Low price of this frequency
motivates vendors to prefer using it to lower their production
costs. 802.11b can an area with a radius of 300 meters. [1] To
provide higher data rates, 802.11b uses CCK (Complementary
Code Keying) which is a modulation technique that makes
efficient use of the radio spectrum. [3] Since 802.11a and
802.11b use different frequencies, it is said that they are
compatible which means they can be implemented side by
side not together. In fact, each connected device can merely
use one. [1] The 802.11b specification affects only the physical
C. 802.11g - 2003
802.11g is the third version of the 802.11 series. It uses
the best parts of its predecessors. Consequently, it supports
the data rate up to 54 Mbps like 802.11a, and uses a radio
frequency of 2.4 GHz like 802.11b. Although this frequency
band would not be obstructed, the problem of interference of
home appliances still resists. The 802.11g standard is said to
be backwards-compatible with the 802.11b standard, which
means the devices that support the 802.11g standard can also
work with 802.11b. [1] Since access points using 802.11g use
OFDM, they cannot hear 802.11b. A mixture of 802.11b and
802.11g requires RTS / CTS (Request-To-Send / Clear-ToSend) to avoid collision. These messages provide substantial
overhead and lowers outcome significantly for both 802.11b
and 802.11g users. [3] Like 802.11a, 802.11g uses OFDM
modulation scheme and supports data rates of 6, 9, 12, 18,
24, 36, 48, and 54 Mbps. It reverts to complementary code
keying (CCK) (like the 802.11b standard) for 5.5 and 11
Mbps. Differential Binary Phase Shift Keying (DBPSK) modulation, Differential Quaternary Phase-Shift Keying (DQPSK)
modulation and Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
modulation technique are used in 1 and 2 Mbps data rate.
[1]
D. 802.11n - 2009
802.11n not only dramatically increases WLAN speed by
more than 10 times up to 600 Mbps but also improves reliability and extends the range of wireless transmission. Although
the Multiple Input / Multiple Output (MIMO) technology plays
the most significant role - boosting the speed with a factor of 4,
there are some other changes in comparison with the previous
versions. The next parts of this paper will be an analysis of
these improvements.
Fig. 1.
This section will cover the smaller improvements that together increase the bitrate from 54 Mbps to 72 Mbps. The parts
that are improved are DPZ (Data, Pilot, Zero), BCC (Binary
Convolutional Code) and SGI (Short Guard Interval). [4]
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
V. T ESTING
20 MHz
LGI (Long Guard Interval) 800 ns
2x2 MIMO
20 MHz
SGI (Short Guard Interval) 400 ns
2x2 MIMO
[8] F. Networks, 802.11n Primer, August 2005, airmagnet. [Online]. Available: http://www.airmagnet.com/assets/whitepaper/WP-802.
11nPrimer.pdf
[9] A. Goldsmith, Wireless Communications. Cambridge University Press,
May 2005.
[10] V. Shrivastava, S. Rayanchu, J. Yoon, and S. Banerjee, 802.11n under
the microscope, Proceedings of the ACM/USENIX Internet Measurement Conference (IMC 08), 2008.
A PPENDIX
R EVIEW QUESTION
Q: What are the two most significant changes with the new
WLAN protocol 802.11n that make up for the speed increase
up to 600 Mbps?
A: A bandwidth increase from 20 MHz to 40 MHz and the
introduction of MIMO.