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IEEE802.11 MAC (Detailed Implementation)

The MAC Library is an implementation of the formal description of MAC operation
from the ANSI/IEEE Std 802.11, 1999 Edition. The model is a direct conversion of
the ITU Specification and Description Language (SDL) to the MLDesigner Finite
State Machine (FSM) language.

The 802.11 MAC model provides the MAC-SAP interface to convey MSDUs from
and to the LLC entity, the MLME-SAP interface with all service primitives to re-
ceive and send indications, requests and confirms from and to a station manage-
ment entity, and the PHY-SAP interface with all service primitives to interact with
the PHY layer.

All parameters of the primitives are stored in data structures, which are exchanged
between the modules. All frametypes are supported as data structures. All required
802.11 parameters, such as PHY characteristics, can be specified in the model.
Note: WEP and encryption are not yet implemented.

Key Features of the 802.11 detailed MAC model:

• Distributed coordination function,
• Point coordination function,
• Backoff procedure,
• Physical and virtual carrier sense,
• RTS/CTS exchange
• Fragmentation, defragmentation retransmission, duplicate filtering,
• Synchronization, power management,
• Association and reassociation

The top-level block diagram for the 8802.11 MAC model is shown below. It consists
of six major components, each represented at the top level by a single block.
• MAC Data Service Module
• MPDUGeneration Module
• Protocol Control Module
• Tranmission Module
• Reception Module
• MLME Module

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ToLLC FromLLC

SmeOut

SmeIn

SmeOut
SmeIn
M MacOperationAttributes
MAC MAC
M StationConfig
M MacVariables
Reset
M TSF Data M StationFlags Management
M MacCounters
M PhyCharacteristics
M MacStaticValues Service Service
M PhyOperation
M CurrentStates

MmgtOut
MmgtIn
MsduRequest
MsduConfirm
MacCounters

CurrentStates MmRequest
MPDU MmConfirm
Reset PsInquiry
MacVarChanged PsResponse
Generation PsChange

MacVar Changed

PduRequest

AtimW
PduConfirm

CfPolled

MmgtOut
MmgtIn
MmRequest
MsduIndicate
PduRequest
PduConfirm

MmConfirm
CfPolled

PsInquiry
AtimW

PsResponse
PsChange
MmIndicate MmIndicate MAC Layer
Reset MmCancel MmCancel
SsInquiry SsInquiry Reset
MacVarChanged Management MacVarChanged
TxRequest SsResponse SsResponse
Protocol Tbtt Tbtt
TxConfirm
PsmDone PsmDone Entity
Backoff
BkDone Control Doze Doze
Wake Wake
Cancel
SwChnl SwChnl
SwDone SwDone
ChangeNav
NeedAck
RxIndicate

RxCfAck
RxCfPoll

ChangeNav
PsIndicate
ChangeNav
TxRequest

RxIndicate
TxConfirm

RxCfPoll
RxCfAck
NeedAck
Backoff
BkDone
Cancel

Busy Busy PsIndicate

Reset Idle Idle Reset
Transmission Reception
Slot Slot MacVarChanged
PhyTxOut

PhyRxOut
PhyTxIn

PhyRxIn

ToPHY FromPHY

Figure 1: Top-level 802.11 MAC block diagram

Each block contains lower-level block diagrams which, in turn, contain lower level
block diagrams and Finite State Machine descriptions

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The contents of the transmission block are shown below, followed by the FSM for
the backoff procedure block.

M BackoffProcedure

Backoff Cancel
CollectStates
M CurrentStates
CollectStates

M DataPump
Backoff BkDone
Reset

Procedure

TxConfirm TxRequest

Busy

Data
Idle
Pump

Slot

PhyTxStart.Confirm Create
??? PhyTxEnd.Request

PhyData.Confirm
???
M MacVariables
M MacStaticValues
PhyTxEndConfirm M PhyCharacteristics
???

PhyTxIn PhyTxOut

Figure 2: Transmission block/function

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Backoff Cancel

M CurrentState

Backoff_Procedure

No_Backoff
slotCount = 0

Backoff Cancel

Reset BkDone
Reset Channel

Channel_Busy Idle Channel_Idle

Slot

Busy

Busy Slot

M cw
M count M MacVariables

M slotCount

Busy Idle Slot

Figure 3: Backoff procedure FSM

Modules and functions

The primary actions of the top level components are listed below.

MAC Data Service Module

• MSDU from LLC FSM validates request parameters, attaches a basic MAC
header and sends the MSDU to MAC sublayer
• MSDU to LLC FSM extracts the appropriate address and status info, re-
moves the MAC header from the MSDU, generates the indication to LLC

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MPDUGeneration Module
Prepare MPDU FSM converts outgoing Msdus and Mmpdus into Mpdus,
fragmenting
PM Filter FSM queues frames

Protocol Control Module

Tx Coordination FSM RTS and ATIM generation

Rx Coordination FSM Generates acknowledgements, routes data frames to

MAC Data Service and management frames to MLME

Tranmission Module
Backoff Procedure FSM calculates the random backoff time

Data Pump FSM sends an MPDUto the PHY

Reception Module
Validate MPDU FSM receives an MPDU from the PHY
Channel State FSM maintains channel state based on physical and virtual car-
rier sense
Filter MPDU FSM filters valid received Frames, detecting duplicated unicast
frames
Defrag FSM deragmentation of fragmented frames

MLME Module
Power Save Monitor FSM--records power save state
Distribute MPDUs FSM-- routes MPDU and SationSate update signals from
and to the MLME operational services
AuthReqService FSM handles (De)Authenticate requests and the generation
of responses for class2 errors
AsocService FSM Associate, Reassociate and Disassociate
Synchronization activ/passiv scanning, join, beacon, and timing synchroniza-
tion.