IEEE 802.11k-2008

Last updated

IEEE 802.11k-2008 is an amendment to IEEE 802.11-2007 standard for radio resource measurement. It defines and exposes radio and network information to facilitate the management and maintenance of a mobile Wireless LAN. IEEE 802.11k was incorporated in IEEE Std 802.11-2012; [1] see IEEE 802.11.

Contents

Radio Resource Measurement

IEEE 802.11k and 802.11r are industry standards that enable seamless Basic Service Set (BSS) transitions in the WLAN environment. The 802.11k standard provides information to discover the best available access point.

802.11k is intended to improve the way traffic is distributed within a network. In a wireless LAN, each device normally connects to the access point (AP) that provides the strongest signal. Depending on the number and geographic locations of the subscribers, this arrangement can sometimes lead to excessive demand on one AP and underutilization of others, resulting in degradation of overall network performance. In a network conforming to 802.11k, if the AP having the strongest signal is loaded to its full capacity, a wireless device is connected to one of the underutilized APs. Even though the signal may be weaker, the overall throughput is greater because more efficient use is made of the network resources. [2]

Protocol operation

The following steps are performed before switching to a new access point. [2]

  1. Access point determines that client is moving away from it.
  2. Informs client to prepare to switch to a new access point.
  3. Client requests list of nearby access points
  4. Access point gives site report
  5. Client moves to best access point based on report

See also

Related Research Articles

IEEE 802.15 is a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) IEEE 802 standards committee which specifies Wireless Specialty Networks (WSN) standards. The working group was formerly known as Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IEEE 802.11</span> Wireless network standard

IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication. The standard and amendments provide the basis for wireless network products using the Wi-Fi brand and are the world's most widely used wireless computer networking standards. IEEE 802.11 is used in most home and office networks to allow laptops, printers, smartphones, and other devices to communicate with each other and access the Internet without connecting wires. IEEE 802.11 is also a basis for vehicle-based communication networks with IEEE 802.11p.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wireless LAN</span> Computer network that links devices using wireless communication within a limited area

A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using wireless communication to form a local area network (LAN) within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, campus, or office building. This gives users the ability to move around within the area and remain connected to the network. Through a gateway, a WLAN can also provide a connection to the wider Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Service set (802.11 network)</span> Group of all devices on the same wireless network

In IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networking standards, a service set is a group of wireless network devices which share a service set identifier (SSID)—typically the natural language label that users see as a network name. A service set forms a logical network of nodes operating with shared link-layer networking parameters; they form one logical network segment.

IEEE 802.1Q, often referred to as Dot1q, is the networking standard that supports virtual local area networking (VLANs) on an IEEE 802.3 Ethernet network. The standard defines a system of VLAN tagging for Ethernet frames and the accompanying procedures to be used by bridges and switches in handling such frames. The standard also contains provisions for a quality-of-service prioritization scheme commonly known as IEEE 802.1p and defines the Generic Attribute Registration Protocol.

IEEE 802.11v is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 standard to allow configuration of client devices while connected to wireless networks. It was published as 802.11v-2011 and later incorporated into 802.11-2012

IEEE 802.11n-2009 or 802.11n is a wireless-networking standard that uses multiple antennas to increase data rates. The Wi-Fi Alliance has also retroactively labelled the technology for the standard as Wi-Fi 4. It standardized support for multiple-input multiple-output, frame aggregation, and security improvements, among other features, and can be used in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequency bands.

IEEE 802.11y-2008 is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11-2007 standard that enables data transfer equipment to operate using the 802.11a protocol on a co-primary basis in the 3650 to 3700 MHz band except when near a grandfathered satellite earth station. IEEE 802.11y is only being allowed as a licensed band. It was approved for publication by the IEEE on September 26, 2008.

IEEE 802.11  – or more correctly IEEE 802.11-1997 or IEEE 802.11-1999 – refer to the original version of the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard released in 1997 and clarified in 1999. Most of the protocols described by this early version are rarely used today.

IEEE 802.11a-1999 or 802.11a was an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless local network specifications that defined requirements for an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) communication system. It was originally designed to support wireless communication in the unlicensed national information infrastructure (U-NII) bands as regulated in the United States by the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47, Section 15.407.

IEEE 802.11b-1999 or 802.11b is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking specification that extends throughout up to 11 Mbit/s using the same 2.4 GHz band. A related amendment was incorporated into the IEEE 802.11-2007 standard.

IEEE 802.11g-2003 or 802.11g is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 specification that operates in the 2.4 GHz microwave band. The standard has extended link rate to up to 54 Mbit/s using the same 20 MHz bandwidth as 802.11b uses to achieve 11 Mbit/s. This specification under the marketing name of Wi-Fi has been implemented all over the world. The 802.11g protocol is now Clause 19 of the published IEEE 802.11-2007 standard, and Clause 19 of the published IEEE 802.11-2012 standard.

Traffic indication map (TIM) is a structure used in 802.11 wireless network management frames.

IEEE 802.11ad is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard, developed to provide a Multiple Gigabit Wireless System (MGWS) standard at 60 GHz frequency, and is a networking standard for WiGig networks. Because it uses the V band of millimeter wave (mmW) frequency, the range of IEEE 802.11ad communication would be rather limited compared to other conventional Wi-Fi systems. However, the high frequency allows it to use more bandwidth which in turn enables the transmission of data at high data rates up to multiple gigabits per second, enabling usage scenarios like transmission of uncompressed UHD video over the wireless network.

IEEE 802.11ah is a wireless networking protocol published in 2017 called Wi-Fi HaLow as an amendment of the IEEE 802.11-2007 wireless networking standard. It uses 900 MHz license-exempt bands to provide extended-range Wi-Fi networks, compared to conventional Wi-Fi networks operating in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. It also benefits from lower energy consumption, allowing the creation of large groups of stations or sensors that cooperate to share signals, supporting the concept of the Internet of things (IoT). The protocol's low power consumption competes with Bluetooth, LoRa, and Zigbee, and has the added benefit of higher data rates and wider coverage range.

TDLS, shortened from Tunneled Direct Link Setup, is "a seamless way to stream media and other data faster between devices already on the same Wi-Fi network." Devices using it communicate directly with one another, without involving the wireless network's router.

IEEE 802.11ax, officially marketed by the Wi-Fi Alliance as Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E (6 GHz), is an IEEE standard for wireless local-area networks (WLANs) and the successor of 802.11ac. It is also known as High EfficiencyWi-Fi, for the overall improvements to Wi-Fi 6 clients in dense environments. It is designed to operate in license-exempt bands between 1 and 7.125 GHz, including the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands already in common use as well as the much wider 6 GHz band.

In the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN protocols, a MAC frame is constructed of common fields and specific fields.

IEEE 802.11be, dubbed Extremely High Throughput (EHT), is the next amendment of the IEEE 802.11 standard, which will be designated Wi-Fi 7. It will build upon 802.11ax, focusing on WLAN indoor and outdoor operation with stationary and pedestrian speeds in the 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz frequency bands. Speeds are expected to reach a theoretical maximum of 46 Gbit/s, although actual results will be much lower.

WiFi Sensing uses existing Wi-Fi signals to detect events or changes such as motion, gesture recognition, and biometric measurement. WiFi Sensing is a combination of Wi-Fi and RADAR sensing technology working in tandem to enable usage of the same Wi-Fi transceiver hardware and RF spectrum for both communication and sensing.

References

  1. Information technology--Telecommunications and information exchange between systems Local and metropolitan area networks--Specific requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications. ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-11:2012(E) (Revision of ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-11-2005 and Amendments). 1 November 2012. pp. 1–2798. doi:10.1109/IEEESTD.2012.6361248. ISBN   978-0-7381-8007-6.
  2. 1 2 Simone, Dan (2004-03-29). "802.11k makes WLANs measure up". Network World . Archived from the original on 2006-05-20.