Lecture objectives
To learn about:
1 – Hidden Terminal Problem
2 – Exposed Terminal
Problem
3 – Tradeoff B/w Packet
Length & Errors
Wired Vs. Wireless
• Popular CSMA/CD scheme is not applicable to wireless networks
• Doesn’t work well on a wireless network because of:
– Varying Link Quality
– Hidden and Exposed Terminal Problems
– Tradeoff between Packet Length and Errors
03
Wireless MAC Challenges: Varying Link
Quality
• Wireless links encounter time-varying quality degradation
because of:
– Noise from other devices operating in the
same spectrum
– Multipath fading
– Signal attenuation
• Popular CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision
Detection) scheme is not applicable to wireless networks
• Specific MAC protocols for the access to the physical layer
Last Lecture: Binary Exponential Back-
off
• Each station assumes a back-off period
after collision/contention
• Since back-off times are random, all
stations choose a different back-off time
and do not attempt to use the channel at
the same time
• After nth collision, station chooses a time
period
between 0 and 2n -1 slot times
Analogy: Wired vs. Wireless
Wireless networks:
The signal is attenuated more
intensively and the signal may
not reach all parts of the network
Wired network:
The signal propagates to all
parts of the network
Analogy: Wired vs. Wireless
The man in the middle
can’t hear both the
speaking men (their
speech is muddled).
The speakers cannot
detect each other and
they will keep on talking
not detecting the
problem at the listener.
Why not perform CD?
1) Collision detection is hard in wireless
networks
2) All collisions cannot be detected at
the sender (hidden node problem)
Collision Avoidance: avoid collisions in the
first place
Wireless LAN Configuration
Hidden Node Problem
isions (undetected) at receiver due to a hidden transm
Hidden node
Caused by Obstacle Caused by Signal Attenuation
Figure adapted from: Kurose, Ross, “Computer Networking: a Top Down Approach”
Hidden Node Problem
– ‘A’ and ‘B’ are in each others range and can
interfere
– ‘C’ can communicate and interfere with ‘B’
and ‘D’ but not ‘A’
Hidden Node Problem
• Consider the case when ‘A’ transmits to ‘B’
• ‘C’ does not detect the transmission from ‘A’ because it is out of
range
• ‘C’ falsely concludes that it can transmit
• If ‘C’ transmits, it interferes at ‘B’ with the transmission from ‘A’
garbling information
• The problem of a station not being able to detect a potential
competitor because of being distant is the ‘Hidden Node Problem’
HN Problem’s solution
Exchange of control (RTS/ CTS packets)
Figure Credits: Mustafa Ergen
Exposed Node Problem
asted bandwidth due to proximity to a transmitting no
Figure adapted from: Peterson/ Davie: “Computer Networks – A Systems Approach”
Exposed Node Problem
• Consider the reverse situation
• ‘B’ transmitting to ‘A’
• If ‘C’ senses the transmission, it could falsely conclude that the
medium is busy
• It does not send to ‘D’ when the line between ‘C’ and ‘D’ is idle
• It is termed as ‘Exposed Node Problem’
Exposed Node Solution
asted bandwidth due to proximity to a transmitting no
CTS
RTS
Figure adapted from: Peterson/ Davie: “Computer Networks – A Systems Approach”
Exposed Node Solution
asted bandwidth due to proximity to a transmitting no
• IEEE 802.11 RTS/CTS mechanism helps to solve this problem
only if the nodes are synchronized and packet sizes and
data rates are the same for both the transmitting
nodes.
• When a node hears an RTS from a neighboring node, but not
the corresponding CTS, that node can deduce that it is an
exposed node and is permitted to transmit to other
neighboring nodes.
• If the nodes are not synchronized (or if the packet sizes are
different or the data rates are different) the problem may occur
that the sender will not hear the CTS or the ACK during the
transmission of data of the second sender.
Tradeoff between Packet Length and Error
• For the same probability of error, packets of longer length
are less likely to be successfully transmitted
• For a channel with probability of bit-error=ε, the
probability of an error-free packet of length L bits is:
Pr {err-free pkt of length L bits} = (1- ε)L
Wireless MAC Challenges: Tradeoff
between Packet Length and Error
1
probability of err-free pkt 0.9
0.8
0.7 ε =0.001
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0
0
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
10
40
70
10
13
16
19
22
25
28
31
34
37
40
43
46
49
pkt length
Bandwidth efficient solution to this problem:
Solution: Fragment long packets into multiple
fragments/frames
Side notes: Network aspects
MTP and SCCP are part of SS7, which is a set of protocols designed to
provide control signaling within the network.
[ End of lecture ]
