NETW360 Week 3 Lab: Mixed 11b/11g WLAN Performance

Explanaion and !ackgro"nd

Although the 802.11x standards are designed to work together to some extent, some of the
compromises made to further this aim do, in fact, have their own prices to pay.
During the data gathering phase, the person designing an expansion to an existing wireless
network has to pay particular attention to inventory legacy systems that may e re!uired to e
incorporated into the new network and to carefully document the conse!uences "if any# of leaving
such legacy systems in place.
$ossile conse!uences are the point of this la where we will examine what happens to an 802.11g
installation when a legacy 802.11 node ecomes a part of the network and then leaves.
#b$eci%e
%ompare the total achievale &'A( throughputs measured in a mixed 11)11g &'A( and in an
all*11g &'A( to study the performance degradation in 11g &'A(s that support legacy nodes.
T&# '
+iven a wireless network containing one or more commonly reported prolems, propose methods
to diagnose and repair the network.
Me(odolog)
%reate a wireless 'A( where all the stations and access point are operating at the 11g data
rate of ,- .ps.
.ake the stations generate traffic that is heavy enough to saturate the network to measure
the highest aggregate throughput achieved in that 11g wireless 'A(.
.ake all this traffic to flow in the uplink direction "i.e., to a destination that is outside of the
wireless 'A(# to prevent the access point eing a ottleneck, and therefore, reducing the
total throughput significantly.
%onfigure a legacy station using 11 $/0 while not generating any traffic that will roam and
associate with the aove descried 11g &'A( for a certain period of the simulation.
%ompare the total achieved throughput in the 11g &'A( when the legacy node is
associated and not associated with the &'A(1s access point.
Ne* +ea"re,
2his la will introduce you to the use of animation and animated tra3ectories to emulate the moving
o3ects we fre!uently see in wireless and other moile technologies. 0ou will e setting some of the
important parameters used y the various o3ects.
0ou will also use the 4time controller,5 a feature that allows you to match the gathering of statistics
to the animation. 2his allows you to match events in the data with precise positioning of moile
o3ects.
0ou will e exposed to the ways in which 6$(72 handles wireless o3ects in contrast to static
o3ects. 8or one thing, ecause wireless is a roadcast medium, much heavier calculation is
re!uired ecause packets are roadcast. 2his means all o3ects within range are receiving the
packets, so considerale calculations are re!uired over point*to*point and simulations may take
longer to run.
1
Mixed 11b/11g WLAN Performance
Proced"re
Start OPNET Modeler
1- %lick the .#PNET Modeler/ icon from %itrix applications.
0- 9elect +ile12#pen-
3- 2he #PEN screen will appear. Doule*click the +: drive.
3- :n the 4irecor) !ro*,er5 change your directory to +:6op7model,6NETW360-
Open the scenario
1. 6pen the 13307WLAN scenario. 2he following scenario should open.
Configure the destination node
1- ;ight*click on the node 44e,inaion 8aion/ and select Edi Arib"e,.
0- 9et the attriute E(erne/E(erne Parameer,/Addre,, to 4100-/
2
&e will use this address as the destination address for the traffic generated y the 11g
&'A( stations.
3- (ote that the attriute Traffic 9eneraion Parameer, is set to 4None-/ 2his node will not
send any traffic into the network.
3- %lick #:.
&onfig"ring WLAN ,aion, and acce,, poin,
Configure the access point in Art Building (legacy access point).
1. ;ight*click on the node 411b AP/ and select Edi Arib"e,.
2. 7xpand the attriute Wirele,, LAN/Wirele,, LAN Parameer,.
<. 9et the attriute !88 ;denifier to 41/ <one=.
-. 9et the attriute Acce,, Poin +"ncionali) to 4Enabled-/
,. 9et the Tran,mi Po*er to 40-003/ watts.
<
An example screenshot appears elow that represents the la author1s environment when the la
was created. 0ours may e slightly different.
Note= %lick on the> "!uestion mark icon# to the left of each parameter to see an explanation
of that attriute. :t is important that you understand the attriutes as they control the
ehavior of the o3ect in the real world, as well as in 6$(72. :t is also a good way to
enhance your learning of wireless.
'a ?uestion 1 'a ?uestion 1= :n your opinion, what is the purpose of our dropping the = :n your opinion, what is the purpose of our dropping the Tran,mi Po*er Tran,mi Po*er to such a to such a
low level> low level>
@. %lick #:.
Configure the access point in the Engineering Building (g access point)
1- ;ight click on the node 411g AP/ and select Edi Arib"e,.
0- 7xpand the attriute Wirele,, LAN/Wirele,, LAN Parameer,-
3- .ake the following attriute configurations=
a. !88 ;denifier >> 0
-
. Acce,, Poin +"ncionali) >> Enabled
c. P(),ical &(araceri,ic, >> Exended ?ae P@A <B00-11g=
d. 4aa ?ae >> C3 Mbp,
e. Tran,mi Po*er >> 0-003
-. %lick #:.
Configure the roa!ing legacy "#AN station
1 ;ight*click on the node 411b 8TA10/ and select Edi Arib"e,.
2 (ote that the attriute Traffic 9eneraion Parameer, is set to 4None-/ 2his node will not
send any traffic into the network.
< 7xpand the attriute Wirele,, LAN/Wirele,, LAN Parameer,.
- 9et the attriute !88 ;denifier to 41-/
Note= Although this node will e roaming capale, this configuration is still
necessary to specify the A99 to which this node elongs at the eginning of the
simulation.
, 9et the attriute ?oaming &apabili) to 4Enabled-/
@ Note that P(),ical &(araceri,ic, and 4aa ?ae are set to 44irec 8eD"ence/ and 411
mbp,-/
B %lick #:.
Note= 2he node has een configured to traverse the tra3ectory path in 20 seconds "starting at ,
and finishing at 2, seconds#. &e expect it to e associated with the access point in the
engineering uilding from approximately 10 to 20 seconds.
Configure the g "#AN stations
1 &hile holding down the 8(if key, left click on all the 10 stations in the engineering uilding.
.ake sure that the access point node is no selected.
0 ;ight*click on one of the selected nodes and choose Edi Arib"e,.
3 %heck the appl) c(ange, o ,eleced ob$ec, checkox.
3 9et the attriute 4e,inaion Addre,, to .100-/
C 7xpand the attriute Traffic 9eneraion Parameer,/Packe 9eneraion Arg"men,.
6 %onfigure the traffic generation y setting the following attriute to=
,
a. 8ar Time C "niform <0-015 0-0101=
. #N 8ae Time C con,an <100-0=
c. #++ 8ae Time C con,an <0-0=
d. ;nerarri%al Time C exponenial <0-003=
e. Packe 8iEe C "niform <10005 0000=
Note= 2his will make the total load of the wireless 'A( D 1 )0.00- packet)sec and
node E 1,00 yte)packet E 8 its)yte E 10 nodes D <0.ps
' 7xpand the attriute Wirele,, LAN/Wirele,, LAN Parameer,.
B .ake the following attriute configurations=
a. !88 ;denifier C 0
. P(),ical &(araceri,ic, C Exended ?ae P@A <B00-11g=
c. 4aa ?ae C C3 Mbp,
F %lick #:.
10 2ype &rlG8 to save the pro3ect.
@
Mea,"ring (e impac of (e roaming legac) node
$un si!ulation
1- %lick &onfig"re/?"n 4i,cree E%en 8im"laion <4E8= utton.
0- .ake sure that the simulation 4"raion is set to 430 ,econd,-/
3- %lick ?"n.
3- &hen the simulation completes click &lo,e.
%ie& results
1- %lick on the @ide/8(o* 9rap( Panel, utton.
0- 9elect 4E8/Panel #peraion,/Panel Templae,/Load *i( Lae, ?e,"l,.
2he panels will e updated with the latest results and will look similar to the ones elow. :t is ok
if your graphs are slightly different.
3- (ow select the left hand panel. H?ig(1&lick2 anywhere on the panel to get an attriutes
menu and select 4$anel $roperties.5 2he 4$anel 6perations5 window appears and looks
similar to the following.

3- 8ill in the 4$anel 2itle5 with a title for the panel as you see aove (a incl"de, )o"r name
and click .#:-/
B
C- 2o study the results along with the movements of the roaming station, use the Time
&onroller.
a- 9elect Iie*/8(o* Time &onroller.
b- %lick &onfig"reJ
c- 9et 8lider end ime to .30,-/
d- 9et Time ,ep to .0-C,/ and click #:.
6- 6n the Time &onroller window click 22 to advance the animation with 2.,*second steps.
Note= 6serve that with each step, the green vertical ars on the results panels
moves to the right and the roaming station is traversing its tra3ectory.
$esults analysis
1. Aefore closing your +raph $anels, answer the following !uestions.
'a ?uestion 2 'a ?uestion 2= = &hat does Acce,, Poin &onneci%i) statistics collected for the roaming
station show>
8
'a ?uestion < 'a ?uestion <= = &hat do you think the &ireless 'A( control traffic received y the roaming
11 node when it is in the engineering uilding is composed of>
'a ?uestion - 'a ?uestion -= = /ow much did our roaming node reduce the total throughput in our heavily
loaded &'A(>
'a ?uestion , 'a ?uestion ,= = &hat caused this reduction in 4goodput5 on the 11g &'A(>
2. %lick @ide/8(o* 9rap( Panel, utton to hide the graphs.
<. 2ype &rlG8 to save the pro3ect.
9eneral K"e,ion, concerning mixing 11b and 11g clien,
Guidelines= Answer each of the following !uestions using knowledge gained from this i'a,
readings from the textook, and individual research on the &e. A good starting point for
research would e to search for 'isa $hifer1s article, 4B vs. G: Understanding mixed WLAN
performance.
Answer all !uestions in full college*level sentences and paragraphs.
'a ?uestion @ 'a ?uestion @= = 9upposedly, 802.11 is 4ackwards compatile5 with 802.11g, yet this la
demonstrates there are significant prolems with allowing the two to coexist. &hat is the primary
4incompatiility5 etween and g>
'a ?uestion B 'a ?uestion B= = 2here is another mechanism esides ;29)%29 that helps the incompatiility.
7xplain riefly the difference etween ;29)%29 and %29*to*self and when each is used.
'a ?uestion 8 'a ?uestion 8= = &hat is the 4protection5 scheme talked aout in the standard> :n short, how do 11g
nodes know that an 11 node is associating, and how is %%F involved>
'a ?uestion G 'a ?uestion G= = :n addition to the added overhead of the ;29)%29 scheme, what else causes the
drop in throughput you see> Are there other factors that can affect the throughput>
'a ?uestion 10 'a ?uestion 10= = :n situations where 802.11g and 802.11 are coexisting, what steps might you
take to minimiHe the impact of the presence of the legacy nodes>
G