Alan Talks Tech on 802.

11e & QoS for WiFi

www.spirent.com
YouTube alantalkstech
http://alantestwiki.pbworks.com
1
Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance

Listen Before Talk CSMA/CA

For Wi-Fi we call this:
DCF = Distributed Coordinated Function
STA
RTS

CT A KS
SCAT
AK AKK

STAS
RT

2
Contention Window (CW)

1023 1023 1023

~~
~ ~~
~~~
511
~~
~ ~
CWmax

If there is a collision the station will

need to double its back-off timer 255
and try again. The station cant
127
exceed the CWmax value. Retries
63
CWmin 7 15 31

Multiplie of 20us

3
Contention Window (CW)

Total Contention window = Backoff Timer+ all NAVs

Countdown stops when you hear another

Network Allocation Vector (NAV). This is
the time the medium is going to be held to
complete the transmission.

TX
4
Distributed Coordinated Function

No Prioritization
DIFS DIFS DIFS

Station A Frame
Station B Defer Frame
Station C Defer Defer Defer Frame
Station D Defer Defer Frame
Station E Defer Defer Defer

Station
StationAC
Station BDtransmits
Resumes
inisthis
the sequence
nextcountdown
toFrame.
first count
is last
down
after
to transmit.
to
thezero
Distributed
&Station
transmit
Inter-frame
E ais Frame.
in Contention.
Space
With smaller
(DIFS).CW.
CountsBdown
Station holdstooff,
zero & transmits
stops Frame.
count down.

5
802.11e & Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) Queue System
Higher Priority Lower Priority

OLD NEW

V V B B
O I E K

Backoff Backoff Backoff Backoff Backoff

DIFS AIFS AIFS AIFS AIFS
CW CW CW CW
PF PF PF PF

Transmission Attempt
Scheduler Resolves Virtual Collisions By
Granting TxOp to Highest Priority
Transmission Attempt
Arbitration Inter-frame Space (AIFS)
Transmit Opportunity (TxOp)
Persistence Factor (PF)

6
802.11e & Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) Queue System

AIFS (2)

Immediate Access when AIFS (1)

Medium id free>=DIFS/AIFS
DIFS

DIFS/AIFS PIFS Contention Window

SIFS
Busy Medium Backoff Window Next Frame (t)

Slot Time

Defer Access Select Slot and Decrement

Backoff as long as
The Medium is idle.
Arbitration Inter-frame Space (AIFS)
DIFS = Distributed Inter-frame Space
Point inter-frame space (PIFS)
Short inter-frame space (SIFS) 10 s

7
802.11e & Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM)

Access categories (ACs) map directly from Ethernet-level Class of Service (CoS)
There are Four ACs for prioritization in Wi-Fi
- 802.1P 802.11e
Priority Access
Priority Code Point Acronym Traffic Type Category Designation
(PCP) (AC)
Lowest 1 BK Background AC_BK Background
0 BE Best Effort AC_BE Best Effort
Excellent
2 EE AC_BE Best Effort
Effort
Critical
3 CA AC_VI Video
Applications
4 VI Video AC_VI Video

5 VO Voice AC_VO Voice

Internetwork
6 IC AC_VO Voice
Control
Network
Highest 7 NC AC_VO Voice
Control

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802.11e & Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM)

Enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA)

Default EDCA Parameters for each AC

AC CWmin CWmax AIFSN Max TxOp
Background
15 1023 7 0
(AC_BK)
Best Effort
15 1023 3 0
(AC_BE)
Video (AC_VI) 7 15 2 3.008ms
Voice (AC_VO) 3 7 2 1.504ms
Legacy DCF 15 (Non QoS) 1023 2 0

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QoS enhanced Basic Service Set (QBSS)

QBSS is sent as part of the Beacon Frames & Probe Responses

Station Count.
The total number of clients associated .

Channel Utilization.
The percentage of time the AP has sensed the channel busy.

Available Admission Capacity.

Capacity available for new client when associated.

10
Alan Talks Tech on 802.11e & QoS for WiFi

www.spirent.com
YouTube alantalkstech
http://alantestwiki.pbworks.com
11