Mobile Computing for IEEE 802 Wireless Networks

Wi-Fi - Standards - Regulation - Cognitive Radio

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1 overview

1.1 introduction

Today's modern wireless communication networks are often built with IEEE 802 standards. The well known Wi-Fi for wireless local area networks (WLAN) is for example known as the standard "IEEE 802.11." Bluetooth and Ultra Wideband for wireless personal area networks (WPAN) are standardized as "IEEE 802.15." Another example is WiMAX for broadband wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), which is standardized as "IEEE 802.16." This course gives a detailed overview about the 802 standards and summarizes the state of the art for WLANs, WPANs, and WMANs, including new topics such as mesh networks and cognitive radio. The course combines lectures with a set of assignments in which students are asked to work with a simple JAVA simulation software to run simulation experiments on 802 wireless networks, and to develop their own mobile computing algorithms. We concentrate on mobile computing algorithms with focus on decision making processes for resource management and service support. The assignments reinforce the concepts introduced in the lectures and help to understand how important mobile computing algorithms are for controlling the performance of wireless networks.

1.2 prerequisites

Students should have taken a course in networking (e.g. Computer Networks in D-INF, Communication Networks in D-ITET, or equivalent) or should show strong interest in wireless communications. Students should be familiar with JAVA programming.

1.3 lecturer

Stefan Mangold (http://people.inf.ethz.ch/smangold) is Senior Research Scientist at Disney Research Zurich, Switzerland. Before joining Disney, Stefan worked at Swisscom, Berne, Switzerland and Philips Research, Briarcliff New York, USA. He is co-author of the Wiley text books "IEEE 802 Wireless Systems: Protocols, Multi-Hop Mesh/Relaying, Performance and Spectrum Coexistence" and "Cognitive Radio and Dynamic Spectrum Access," which will be used throughout this course. Note that students attending the class do not need to purchase the books.

2 topics covered

1: introduction

  • standardization
  • radio spectrum regulation
  • the IEEE 802 project
  • the emulation tool Jemula802
  • wireless basics (if needed)

2: IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi wireless local area networks (WLANs)

  • introduction to 802.11
  • physical layer and medium access control layer
  • 802.11e quality-of-service, 802.11n high rate
  • application examples: hotspots, long range

3: IEEE 802.15 wireless personal area networks (WPANs)

  • 802.15.1: Bluetooth
  • 802.15.3: High Rate WPAN - Wireless USB
  • 802.15.4: Low Rate WPAN - ZigBee

4: IEEE 802.16 WiMAX metropolitan area networks (WMANs)

  • scope of 802.16, reference model
  • physical layer and medium access control
  • application examples

5: mesh networks

  • classification of wireless mesh networks
  • exploiting radio channel by spatial re-use
  • fairness and congestion avoidance, routing
  • IEEE 802.11, 802.15, 802.16 for mesh networks
  • municipal networks

6: cognitive radio and dynamic spectrum access

  • spectral coexistence between 802 standards
  • spectrum sharing games
  • radio spectrum scarcity, cognitive radio
  • white space networking
  • IEEE 802.22

3 course schedule

3.1 time & location

Monday,15:00 - 18:00, room IFW C 42

3.2 weekly schedule

table 1: schedule and class material

day 15:15- 16:00 16:15 - 17:00 17:15 - 18:00 download
(from proxy.ethz.ch only)
Mo, 2009-09-21 lecture lecture - part 1
Mo, 2009-09-28 lecture lecture lab part 2
Mo, 2009-10-05 lecture lecture lab
Mo, 2009-10-12 lecture lecture lab
Mo, 2009-10-19 - - -
Mo, 2009-10-26 lecture lecture lab
Mo, 2009-11-02 lecture lecture lab
Mo, 2009-11-09 lecture lecture lab part 3
Mo, 2009-11-16 lecture lecture lab part 4
Mo, 2009-11-23 lecture lecture lab part 5
Mo, 2009-11-30 lecture lecture lab
Mo, 2009-12-07 lecture lecture lab part 6
Mo, 2009-12-14 Q&A lab lab
Mo, 2009-12-21 - - -
installation notes and useful tips about the tools "jemula" and "Jemula802" appendix 1
wireless basics appendix 2

4 tool and assignments

4.1 tool for system emulation software

We use the open-source JAVA based protocol emulator "Jemula802" that will students give the opportunity to get a hands-on experience with the discussed protocols and algorithms. An initial version of "Jemula802" and its kernel "jemula", including the (limited) documentation are available in table 2. The scenarios are configured with XML scenario files. Examples are available for download together with "Jemula802". For updates of the code and the XML scenario files, check Origo repository regularly! Updates are always announced at http://blogs.ethz.ch/stefanmangold/.

table 2: software tool including XML scenarios

description download
the JAVA simulation kernel "jemula" http://jemula.origo.ethz.ch/
the 802 protocol emulator "Jemula802" http://Jemula802.origo.ethz.ch/

4.2 assignments

The laboratory assignments are very important in order to gain understanding of the importance of mobile computing algorithms for wireless 802 networks. Participants learn much more about wireless networks by experimenting with them as compared to only listening to the course or reading the textbook alone. Assignments are executed with the help of our simulation / emulation software Jemula802. The objective of the first assignment is to learn how to use the tool in the lab sessions. Assignments have to be solved independently. It is important that the solution to an assignment that will be turned in must be someone's own work. Students are welcome and encouraged to discuss problems and assignments with other students, but the work turned in must be original. The student's final grade will be based on the quality of the assignments and other factors such as active participation.

table 3: assignments

out due description download
(from proxy.ethz.ch only)
2009-09-21 2009-10-12 #1: get experienced with Jemula802 assignment 1
2009-09-27 2009-11-09 #2: Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 performance assignment 2
2009-11-09 2009-12-14 #3: mobile computing algorithm for Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 assignment 3
2009-xx-xx 2009-xx-xx #4: mesh network tests (optional) n/a

5 references