802.

11 WLAN Systems – a tutorial

The Leader in Wireless LAN Testing

Agenda

Introduction
WLAN network basics
Physical layer (radio) technologies
P t
Protocoll architecture
hit t
802.11 MAC protocol
Security protocols in WLANs
Advanced topics in WLANs
Wireless LAN standards
WLAN testing challenges and test metrics
Conclusion
What is a WLAN? What is 802.11?

Wireless LANs (WLANs) are LANs that use RF instead of cable or

optical fiber
• Allows high-speed data transfer without wires or cables
• Supports typical enterprise applications (e-mail, file transfer, audio/video
conferencing, etc)
• First introduced in 1999, evolved from legacy RF data technologies such as
Hiperlan
• 120 million ports of WLAN shipped worldwide last year (virtually all laptops have
WLAN interfaces now)

IEEE 802.11-1999 is the basic standard governing wireless LANs

• Standardized by the IEEE 802.11 group, which is a working group in the IEEE
802 LAN/MAN StStandards
d d C Committee
itt (LMSC)
• Formed in 1991 to standardize a 1 Mb/s RF-based data network technology
• Completed its work in 1999 with the first 802.11 wireless LAN standard
• Now driving almost all WLAN technology development worldwide
Pros and Cons of 802.11

Pros.. Cons..
Mobility Shared-medium technology –
Compatible with IP networks bandwidth limited by RF
High
g speed
p data connectivity
y spectrum
Unlicensed frequencies Limited number of non-
overlapping channels
Highly secure
Multipath effects indoor
Easy and fast installation
Interference in the 2.4 GHz
Simplicity and 5 GHz bands
Scalability Limited QoS
Very low cost Power control
High overhead MAC protocol
Basic 802.11 Operation

WLAN network topology

Channel scanning and synchronization
Authentication and association
D t ttransfer
Data f mechanism
h i
WLAN Network Topologies

Infrastructure Mode Repeater Mode

Bridge Mode
Ad-hoc Mode
Scanning

1. Scanning is the first step for the MC

((Mobile Clients)) to jjoin an APs
network.
2. In the case of passive scanning the
client just waits to receive a Beacon
Frame from the AP
3. MC (Mobile Clients) searching for a
network by just listens for beacons
until it finds a suitable network to join.
Active Scan

1. The MC (Mobile Clients) tries to locate an

AP by transmitting Probe Request Frames,
and waits for Probe Response from the AP.
2. The probe request frame can be a directed
or a broadcast probe request.
3. The probe response frame from the AP is
similar to the beacon frame.
4
4. B
Based d on th
the response ffrom the
th AP
AP, th
the
client makes a decision about connecting to
Passive Scan the AP
Synchronization

Necessary for keep all the clients synchronized with the AP in order for the
clients to perform functions like power save.
AP periodically transmits special type of frames called Beacon Frames
The beacons contain the timestamp of the AP. The clients synchronize their
clocks with the APs clock using this timestamp.
The AP also uses the beacon to advertise its capabilities
p and this information is
used by the passively scanning clients to make a decision to connect to the AP.
The AP advertises its capabilities in the form of Information Elements (IEs) in
beacon frames
Some of the IEs are: SSID,, channel,, Supported
pp Rates,, WPA IE,, EDCA IE
802.11 Authentication

•The station first needs to be authenticated by the AP in order to join the APs
network.
•802.11 defines two authentication subtypes: Open system and shared key

Open Authentication Shared Key Authentication

A sends an authentication Uses WEP Keys
requestt to
t B.
B Considered more insecure than
B sends the result back to A open system
802.11 Association

Next Step after authentication

Association enables data transfer between MC
(Mobile Clients) and AP.
The MC (Mobile Clients) sends an association
request frame to the AP who replies to the client
with an association response frame either
allowing are disallowing the association.
Once the association is successful, the AP
issues an Association ID to the client and adds
th client
the li t tto itits d
database
t b off connected
t d clients.
li t

State Machine
Data Transfer

Data transfer allowed only after authentication

and association.
Attempting to send data to an AP without proper
authentication and association causes AP to
respond with a de-authentication frame.
Data frames are always acknowledged
acknowledged. If a client
sends a data frame to an AP, the AP must send
an acknowledgement. If the AP sends a data
frame to a client, the client must send an
acknowledgement
The AP will forward data frames received from
the client to the required destination on the wired
network. It will also forward data directed to the
client
li t from
f the
th wired
i d network.
t k APs
AP can also
l
forward traffic between two clients, but this is not
common.
IEEE 802.11 Protocol Architecture

MAC Layer:
• Provides access to contention based and
contention-free traffic on different kinds of
physical layers.
• MAC layer responsibilities are divided into
MAC sub layer and MAC management sub-layer.
• MAC sub layer defines access mechanisms
and packet formats.
• MAC management sub-layer defines
power management, security and roaming services.
PHY Layer:
• The Physical layer is divided into three sub layers
• The PLCP acts as an adaption layer The PLCP is responsible for CCA and building
packets for different physical layer technologies
• The
Th PMD llayer specifiesifi modulation
d l ti and d coding
di ttechniques
h i
• The PHY management layer takes care of the management issues like channel tuning.
• Station management sub layer is responsible for co-ordination of interactions between the
MAC and PHY layers
The 802.11 PHY (RF) Layer

Radio channels and frequencies

Modulation technologies
PHY data rates used
I
Improving
i data
d t transfer:
t f diversity
di it and
d polarization
l i ti
Frequency Channel Allocation for 802.11a/b/g

802.11 b/g

802.11a
Physical Layer Technologies

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum

• Spreads a signal power over a wider band of frequencies
• Frequency spectrum of a data-signal is spread using a code
uncorrelated with that signal
• Codes used for spreading have low cross-correlation values and are unique to every user
• Sacrifices
S ifi b
bandwidth
d id h to gain
i signal-to-noise
i l i performance
f
• Both the transmitting and receiving are done on a 22 MHz wide set of frequencies
• 1, 2, 5.5 and 11 Mbps data rates supported for 802.11b
• channels 1,6 and 11 are non overlapping channels and can be used for co-location
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
• A special form of multicarrier modulation. Used for 802.11a and 802.11g
• Transmit broadband, high data rate information by dividing the data into several interleaved, parallel bit
p
streams modulated on a separate sub-carrier
• Robust against the adverse effects of multipath propagation and ISI
• Provides several modulation and coding alternatives to adapt to the channel quality
• Using adequate channel coding and interleaving we can recover symbols lost due to the frequency
y of the channel.
selectivity
PHY Data rates for 802.11a/b/g

802.11b
• Supports 1 1, 2
2, 5
5.5
5 and 11 Mbps data
rates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band
• Backward compatible with the original
802.11 DSSS systems.
• Uses Complementary Code Keying
(CCK) modulation for 5.5 and 11Mbps
rates
802 11a
802.11a
•Incompatible with devices operating in 2.4GHz
•Uses OFDM technique and supports Data rates up to 54 Mbps.
•Uses combinations of various modulation and coding rates to achieve the different
PHY rates
Antenna Diversity and Polarization

Antenna Diversity
• Scheme devised to compensate multipath effects by using multiple antennas
• The incoming RF signal is received through one antenna at a time.
• The receiving radio constantly samples the incoming signals from both the antennas to
determine the higher quality signal.
signal
• The receiver radio then chooses to accept the higher quality signal.
• The receiver transmits its next outgoing signal out of the antenna that was last used to
receive an incoming signal because the received signal was a higher quality signal than
f
from th other
the th antenna.
t

Polarization
• Radio wave made up of electric and magnetic fields which are in perpendicular planes to
each
h other
th
• Horizontal polarization when electric field is parallel to ground
• Vertical polarization when electric field is perpendicular to ground
• Antennas that are not polarized in the same way may not be able to communicate with
each other effectively.
The 802.11 MAC (Frame) Layer

Framing data to be transmitted

Spacing between frames
Avoiding collisions: carrier sensing
A idi collisions:
Avoiding lli i the
th backoff
b k ff algorithm
l ith
802.11 Frame Format

Management Frames
• Beacon, Probe request, Probe Response, Authentication, Association Request,
Association Response, Deauthenticate, Disassociate, Reassociation request,
Reassociation response,
Control Frames:
• RTS, CTS, Acknowledgment, PS-Poll
Data Frames:
• Data,
Data Null frame
Inter Frame Spaces (IFS)

The Inter Frame Spaces define the minimum time that a station needs to wait
after it senses the medium free
free.
The concept of IFS was introduced to enable different priority levels for
transmission.
The smaller the IFS, the higher the priority
Various Inter Frame Spaces are defined to assign different priorities (SIFS,
PIFS, DIFS)
Carrier Sensing

Physical Carrier Sensing

• Uses CSMA/CA scheme
• Each station detects activity on the channel by
analyzing the signal from other clients in the network.
• All the clients connected to the same AP are considered
to be in a common contention zone.
• If a station
i iis not able
bl to d
detect any signal
i l then
h iit
assumes that none of the other stations are transmitting
and hence starts transmitting.
• This scheme faces hidden terminal problem.
Virtual Carrier Sensing
• This scheme uses CTS and RTS
• When a MC (Mobile Client) wants to transmit data, it
sends an RTS packet which includes the source,
destination and the duration of the following transaction
• Destination responds with CTS which includes the same
duration information
• All stations receiving either CTS or RTS set their NAV
for the given duration and don’t try to transmit for that
time
Backoff Algorithm

Each station senses the channel for an additional random time after detecting the channel as
being idle for a minimum duration of DIFS.
Only if the channel remains idle for this additional random time period, the station is allowed to
initiate the transmission
transmission.
Each station maintains a CW, which is used to determine the number of slot times a station has to
wait before transmission.
A backoff counter is maintained which counts the slots from the random time chosen to zero
downwards.
The Backoff Counter is decreased as long as a slot time is sensed as idle and it is frozen when a
transmission is detected.
As soon as the Backoff Counter reaches the value Zero the station transmits its own frame
After any unsuccessful transmission attempt, another backoff is performed with a doubled size of
the CW.
This reduces the collision probability in case there are multiple stations attempting to access the
channel
Security in 802.11 WLANs

Framing data to be transmitted

Spacing between frames
Avoiding collisions: carrier sensing
A idi collisions:
Avoiding lli i the
th backoff
b k ff algorithm
l ith
Common WLAN Attacks

Passive Attacks: eavesdropping

• Wireless LAN sniffers can be used to gather
information about the wireless network from
a distance with a directional antenna.
• These applications are capable of gathering
the passwords from the HTTP sites and the
telnet sessions sent in plain text.
• These
ese attac
attackss do not
ot leave
ea e any
a y ttrace
ace o
of tthe
e
hacker’s presence on the network
PHY Layer attacks: RF Jamming
• The hacker can use a highg p power RF signal
g
generator to interfere with the ongoing
wireless connection, making it useless.
• Can be avoided only by physically finding the
j
jamming
i source
WLAN Attacks, Contd…

Active Attacks: hacking

• Hacker can connect to the network
through the wireless LAN and obtain an
IP address form the DHCP server.
• A business competitor can use this kind
off attack
tt k to
t gett the
th customer
t information
i f ti
which is confidential to an organization

Man-in-the-Middle
Man in the Middle Attack
• A hacker may use an rogue AP to hijack
mobile nodes by sending a stronger
signal than the actual AP is sending to
those nodes.
nodes
• The MC (Mobile Client) then associates
with the rogue AP, sending its data into
the wrong hands.
WLAN Security Solutions

The two mains aspects of security are privacy and confidentiality

In 802
802.11
11 the privacy problem is solved by robust mutual authentication mechanisms
and the confidentiality problem is solved by encryption methods.
Some of the existing and the newly introduced (by 802.11i) authentication and
encryption methods are listed below:
WEP-Open
O DWEP-EAP/TLS
WEP-SharedKey DWEP-PEAP/MSCHAPv2
WPA-PSK LEAP
WPA-EAP/TLS WPA-LEAP
WPA-EAP/TTLS-GTC
WPA2-LEAP
WPA-PEAP/MSCHAPv2
WPA-PSK-AES
WPA-EAP/FAST
WPA-EAP/TLS-AES
WPA2 PSK
WPA2-PSK
WPA-PEAP/MSCHAPv2-AES
WPA2-EAP/TLS
WPA2-PSK-TKIP
WPA2-EAP/TTLS-GTC
WPA2-PEAP/MSCHAPv2 WPA2-EAP/TLS-AES
WPA2-EAP/FAST WPA2-PEAP/MSCHAPv2-TKIP
WEP Encryption and Drawbacks

64 and 128 bit keys are used for authentication and encryption of data
WEP protocol is fundamentally weak because it uses a static encryption key.
Motivated attackers can easily crack WEP encryption by using freely
available hacking tools.
The determination and distribution of WEP keys are not defined
No defined mechanism to change the WEP key either per authentication or
periodically for an authenticated connection
No mechanism for central authentication, authorization, and accounting
Server Based Authentication

A possible solution for the security problem is maintaining centralized key servers like a
RADIUS server for centralized key generation and distribution.
This would reduce the overhead off maintaining the key information
f off all the clients at the
AP.
With RADIUS, authentication is user-based rather than device-based, so, for example, a
stolen laptop does not necessarily imply a serious security breach.
RADIUS eliminates the need to store and manage authentication data on every AP on the
WLAN, making security considerably easier to manage and scale.
Steps for Authenticating with RADIUS server
• The WLAN Client (the “Supplicant”) tries to access network. [EAPoL]
• The AP (the “Authenticator”) responds to requests, and will ask client for identity. [EAPoL]
• Client responds with identity to AP [EAPoL]
• AP will forward Access-Request to RADIUS server with the user's identity. [RADIUS]
• RADIUS server will respond with a challenge to AP. The Challenge will indicate the EAP
authentication-type requested by the server [RADIUS]
• AP forwards challengeg to client [[EAPoL]]
• If Client agrees to EAP-type, then negotiation will continue; if not, client will NAK request and suggest
an alternative method. [EAPoL]
• AP forwards response to RADIUS server. [RADIUS]
• If these credentials are correct, the RADIUS server accepts the user. If not, the user is rejected. An
Access-Accept p or Reject
j is sent. [[RADIUS]]
• If authentication succeeds, AP connects client to the network.
Server-based security: 802.1x / 802.11i
Advanced Topics

Load Balancing and Rate Adaptation

Power Management
Roaming
Q lit off Service
Quality S i
The next-generation WLAN: IEEE 802.11n
Load Balancing and DRS

Load Balancing
• IImportant
t t issue
i in
i areas off heavy
h traffic
t ffi
• In multicell structure having heavy traffic, several co-
located APs can cover the same region to increase the
throughput.
• The clients having load balancing functionality
configured can automatically associate with the AP that
is less loaded and provides the best quality of service.
Rate Adaptation (dynamic rate shifting)
• Speed adjusted dynamically depending on the distance
and the signal strength
• As the distance between the AP and the MC (Mobile
Client) increases, the signal strength will decrease to a
point where the current data rate cannot be maintained .
• when the signal strength decreases the transmitting unit
p its data rate to the next lower data rate in order
will drop
to maintain a reasonable SNR.
Power Management

Power save very important on battery operated 802.11 devices.

Power-management
Power management schemes place a client in sleep mode when no activity occurs
The MC (Mobile Client) can be configured to be in continuous aware mode (CAM) or
Power Save Polling (PSP) mode.
In the PSP mode, the client can go to sleep by informing the AP when there is no
y
activity.
The APs buffers any data directed to the client when the client is asleep.
WLAN Roaming

Roaming can be defined as the client moving between APs advertising the same or similar wireless
network.
Since the WLAN clients are mobile and coverage range of a single AP is limited
limited, roaming happens
whenever the client passes the boundaries of a WLAN cell.
The roaming protocol should be implemented effectively in order to cause very minimal delays during
the handoff.
The clients usually make the roaming decisions by scanning the various available wireless networks at
all times and trying to connect to the best available network
network.
Decision to roam can be made on various factors such as RSSI, Number of missed beacons, SNR,
frame errors etc..
When a decision is made to roam the client can authenticate and associate with the new AP and
continue its data communication through the new AP.
Roaming when security is enabled would involve setting up a new security session with the new AP
Fat AP Vs Thin AP

Fat AP Model
• Standalone APs which perform all 802
802.11
11 MAC and PHY functionalities
functionalities.
• The APs pretty much work independent of each other except for limited inter-access point
communication through IAPP and WDS.
• Fat APs are costly.
Thin AP Model
• The AP only performs the PHY and lower MAC layer functions like ACKing and MAC retries.
• All thin APs connect to a centralized switch and the switch performs all the upper MAC functions like
client connections, security states, encryption keys, QoS policies, bandwidth management etc..
• Advantages
ƒ Manage and configure all the APs centrally through a WLAN switch/controller.
ƒ The AP hardware is cheaper and in large deployments this can cut a lot of cost.
ƒ The wireless switches can enforce network policies, network security and Quality of Service rules
for applications such as IP telephony in a centralized fashion.
ƒ Since client connection and security state is maintained by the AP and not the switch, the clients
can seamlessly roam between all the APs connected to the same switch without re-authenticating
with the new AP.
ƒ Thin AP model allows implementation of radio resource management
management, load balancing
balancing, rogue AP
detection etc…
Quality of Service (802.11e)

QoS needed to support triple play

traffic
The IEEE 802.11e standard defines
enhancements to support quality of
service for the traditional 802.11 MAC
protocol
Introduces Enhanced Distribution
Coordination Channel Access (EDCA)
and Hybrid Coordination Channel
Access (HCCA)
QoS is supported with the introduction of Traffic Categories (TCs).
In order to introduce priorities the CW sizes and IFS values are set differently for each
TC.
Each Traffic Queue within the stations contends for a transmission opportunity (TXOP)
and independently starts a backoff after detecting the channel is idle for an Arbitration
Inter frame Space (AIFS)
802.11e Contd…

Each client station has 4 queues for

different traffic types: Voice
Voice, Video
Video,
Best Effort and Background.
The higher the AC, the higher the
probability
p y to transmit.
The ACs were designed to
correspond to 802.1d priorities
The client has an internal collision
resolution mechanism to address
collision among different queues,
which selects the frames with the
highest priority to transmit
transmit.
Opportunity to Transmit (TXOP).
Most AP vendors today implement
the WMM spec which is EDCA only
802.11n

The scope of TGn's objective is to define modifications to the Physical Layer and Medium Access Control
layer (PHY/MAC) that deliver a minimum of 100 Mbps throughput at the MAC SAP.
Increasing the physical transfer rate of wireless systems by using multiple antenna systems for both the
transmitter and the receiver. This technology is referred to as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or
smart antenna systems.
MIMO technology offers the ability to coherently resolve information from multiple signal paths using
spatially separated receive antennas.
Possible use of wider (40MHz) channels to achieve higher data rates
rates.

Use more complex modulation and coding techniques to improve spectral efficiency and hence increase
the data rates.
MAC layer improvements such as aggregating multiple MAC Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) into single PHY
Protocol Data Units (PPDUs).
Acknowledging
g g multiple
p MPDUs with a single
g block acknowledgement
g ((Block ACK)) in response
p to a block
acknowledgement request (BAR)
A Rapidly Evolving Technology

Fast Roaming (less than 50 msec => no call drops)

Advanced Security
Automatic Radio Resource Management
M h Networks
Mesh N t k
Wireless Network Management
Wireless Access In a Vehicular Environment (WAVE)
Roaming Across Heterogeneous Networks (802.11,
802.16, 3G, etc)
etc.
802.11 Standards and TGs

802.11a - 54 Mbps standard, 5 GHz signaling (ratified 1999)

802.11b - 11 Mbps standard, 2.4 GHz signaling (1999)
802.11c - operation of bridge connections (moved to 802.1)
802.11d - worldwide compliance with regulations for use of wireless signal
spectrum (2001)
802 11e - Quality
802.11e Q alit of Ser
Service
ice (QoS) support
s pport (2005)
802.11f – Inter access point protocol to support roaming clients (2003)
802.11g - 54 Mbps standard, 2.4 GHz signaling (2003)
802.11h - Enhanced version of 802.11a to support
pp European
p regulatory
g y
requirements (2003)
802.11i - Security improvements for the 802.11 family (2004)
802.11j - Enhancements to 5 GHz signaling to support Japan regulatory
requirements (2004)
802.11k - WLAN system management (in progress)
802.11l - Skipped to avoid confusion with 802.11i
802.11m - Maintenance of 802.11 family documentation
802.11n - Future 100+ Mbps standard (in progress)
Contd..

802.11o – Voice over WLAN, faster handoff, prioritize voice traffic over data (in
progress)
802.11p – Using 5.9GHz band for ITS (long range) (in progress)
802.11q – Support for VLAN (in progress)
802.11r – Handling fast handoff when roaming between APs (in progress)
802.11s – Self-healing/self-configuring mesh networks (in progress)
802.11t - Wireless Performance Prediction (in progress)
802.11u - Interworking with External Networks
802 11 - Wireless
802.11v Wi l N
Network
t kMManagementt standard
t d d (i(in progress))
802.11w - Protected Management Frames standard (in progress)
802.11x – Summarize all 802.11 standards, but it is not a standard.
802 11y - Contention Based Protocol Study Group (in progress)
802.11y
WLAN testing

RF level testing
Protocol Conformance Testing
Performance Testing
Interoperability Testing
Functional Testing
Management/Data plane testing
Stress/Load Testing
Scalability Testing
Testing
g QoS support
pp
Testing security protocols
VoIP over WLAN testing
Testing Roaming
Testing Rate Adaptation
Testing mixed mode networks
Testing for protection against security attacks
Deployment Testing, site survey
WLAN Performance Metrics

Primary Metrics
• Primary metrics are defined as the performance metrics that directly affect
the quality of the application layer traffic.
• R-values/MOS score, Jitter, packet loss, number of dropped calls in the
case of voice
• Connection setup time,
time Layer 4 through 7 throughput
throughput, latencies
latencies, frames
loss etc…in the case of other application layer data traffic.
Secondary metrics
• Secondary metrics are defined as the performance metrics at layer 2 that
indirectly affect the performance of any application running on the top of the
layer 2 WLAN protocol.
• Secondary metrics include, Throughput, Frame loss, latency and
forwarding rate at the 802.11 layer
• It can be argued that an AP performing well at layer 2 will perform well at all
the layer above.
Both primary and secondary metrics are considered to be
important for performance testing.
WLAN testing today

Mainly interoperability (Wi-Fi certification)

Wi-Fi certification only tests for interoperability of the APs and NIC cards, which means if an
AP interoperates with most of the common NIC cards with a reasonable throughput, the AP
passes the certification
No real performance testing being done, because of lack of proper performance test
equipment.
Performance Testing done using racks of real laptops running Chariot or similar traffic
generators.
No real way of synchronizing the traffic from all the laptops and hence the tests are never
repeatable.
repeatable
Because of use of off the shelf equipment and protocol stacks of PCs, the test results are
affected by a number of variables.
Off the shelf equipment cannot generate traffic at full rate and hence cannot stress the DUT.
Roaming testing done by placing laptops on carts or turn tables and moving them around
which requires a lot of man hours.
VoIP testing is being done by having real phones connect to the APs and having multiple
people
p p talk on the p phones for long gpperiods of time and pproviding
g a subjective
j analysis
y of the
voice quality.
Controlled RF environment for testing is a requirement.
VeriWave Application Classification

WaveTest system applications are broadly classified

into five
f categories:
• Data Plane
• Control Plane / Security
y
• QoS and VoIP
• Muni WiFi Mesh
• Hybrid
Data Plane Applications

Unicast Throughput
Unicast Forwarding Rate
Unicast Packet Loss
U i
Unicastt Latency
L t
Multicast Forwarding Rate *
Multicast Roaming *
TCP Goodput
Power Save Throughput
g p

* available as script
Control Plane / Security Applications

Roaming Benchmark
Roaming Stress
Client Association Database Capacity
AP LLoadd Balancing
B l i *
Connection Stress Test *
Concurrent Connections Test *
Thin AP Failover Test *
802.11 Frame Generator / Attack Generator
AAA Server / RADIUS Authentication capacity *

* available as script
QoS Applications

VoIP Call Capacity

VoIP Service Assurance
QoS Service Differentiation *
VoIP Roaming

* available as script
Muni WiFi Mesh Applications

Mesh client capacity

Mesh VoIP call capacity
Mesh Throughput per hop
M h Forwarding
Mesh F di Rate
R t per hop
h
Mesh Latency per hop
Mesh Backhaul Failover (self-healing)
Mesh Backhaul Impairment Performance: Throughput
Mesh Backhaul Impairment
p Performance: Latency
y
802.11 Hybrid testing

Hybrid testing facilitates interoperability testing with WLAN 802.11

client devices

Hybrid testing provides a controlled environment that allows the user to

define a traffic model

Key Focus Areas

• VoWLAN handsets
• RFID tags
• Laptop / PC clients
• Mixed residential scenarios
• Healthcare environments
Conclusions

WLAN technology is one of the faster growing networking technologies.

Wireless LAN technology provides a very good business model as it
uses free unlicensed frequencies and provides a wireless last hop to IP
networking which is free too.
Though WLAN protocol was initially designed for high bandwidth delay
insensitive data applications, WLANs today are being used for a wide
variety of traffic types and applications .
Some of the applications of WLANs include, corporate wireless data
networks, hotspots, medical facilities using VoIP over WLAN phones
and badges, department stores using wireless barcode scanners,
consumer electronics using wireless communications like wireless TVs,
wireless cameras
cameras.
The wide variety of applications and the sheer volume of deployments
creates huge performance , scalability and QoS testing needs for the
NEMS and the service providers
VeriWave’s Mission

Enable the creation of high performance WLAN systems for

mission critical enterprise and municipal wireless applications:

• Providing WLAN equipment manufacturers with the tools necessary to

accurately analyze their products thus improving performance
performance,
interoperability, and profitability

• Supplying service providers and enterprise users with the tools necessary
to make the right choice when selecting WLAN equipment for deployment
in their networks
VeriWave’s Technological Focus

Client Experts - stateful behavior, real 802.11 clients

Loading and scalability of infrastructure devices

Mobility - large scale and repeatable roaming test

Technology & apps convergence

• Wireless and wired
• Voice
• QoS – prioritization, admission control, bandwidth utilization
• Muni WiFi Mesh networks
• Security
VeriWave – efficiency gains & cost reductions

Reduce test time from days to minutes

Increase test coverage Minimize
Mi i i costt
Decrease time to market of ownership
Reveal bugs early in QA cycle

Get to root cause & solve problems faster Repeatability

Avoid pitfalls when testing with off-the shelf =
clients confidence

Run hundreds of tests unattended

Uninterrupted operation for extended periods of
time Automation –
10x more efficient
Complete control over large scale deployment
scenarios