The main topic of my diploma thesis is dedicated to the issue of wireless networks mostly aimed at IEEE 802.11 standard. Theoretical part of the thesis is divided into three main chapters. It deals with basic overview of standards, architecture, utilization of radio spectrum and modulating techniques in signal processing. Further, it describes basic security measures and quality of service requirements in WLAN networks. The thesis is complemented by two separate laboratory assignments focused on procedure related to the chosen problematic. The first assignment handles common steps to break ciphered protocols WEP and WPA in WLAN’s. Linux software called Back Track 5 was used to provide complete package of tools for WLAN security tests. The second one is aimed at practical options on video streaming in converged wireless networks and also at remote access of mobile users to wireless IP camera video stream.

The current large concentration of wireless networks brings new horizons, but also new concerns. Failure to follow basic rules may produce far-reaching problems that could make more wrinkles to all affected managers and administrators. The aim of this thesis was to measure and compare the radio parameters of selected products and how they behave in neighboring interference and the speed they have while there are hidden nodes. The resulting values were measured in the laboratory network Wificolab and compared with the various support protocols. Possible effects on the specific situation are also analyzed in this thesis.

This thesis consists of theoretical and practical parts. The theoretical part contains an analysis of the problems of wireless networkssolutions individual standards and methodologies to ensure quality of service. In the practical part using the OPNET Modeler, a number of different simulation models and their evaluation. It is a model of individual standards, support mobility and interference effects on quality of service.

In this paper, we introduce and evaluate ScaleMesh, a scalable miniaturized dual-radio wireless mesh testbed based on IEEE 802.11b/g technology. ScaleMesh can emulate large-scale mesh networks within a miniaturized experimentation area by adaptively shrinking the transmission range of mesh nodes by means of variable signal attenuators. To this end, we derive a theoretical formula for approximating the attenuation level required for downscaling desired network topologies. We present a performance study in which we validate the feasibility of ScaleMesh for network emulation and protocol evaluation. We further conduct singleradio vs. dual-radio experiments in ScaleMesh, and show that dual-radio communication significantly improves network goodput. The median TCP goodput we observe in a typical random topology at 54 Mbit/s and dual-radio communication ranges between 1468 Kbit/s and 7448 Kbit/s, depending on the current network load.

In this paper, we introduce a novel congestion control algorithm for TCP over multihop IEEE 802.11 wireless networks implementing rate-based scheduling of transmissions within the TCP congestion window. We show how a TCP sender can adapt its transmission rate close to the optimum using an estimate of the current 4-hop propagation delay and the coefficient of variation of recently measured round-trip times. The novel TCP variant is denoted as TCP with Adaptive Pacing (TCP-AP). Opposed to previous proposals for improving TCP over multihop IEEE 802.11 networks, TCP-AP retains the end-to-end semantics of TCP and does neither rely on modifications on the routing or the link layer nor requires cross-layer information from intermediate nodes along the path. A comprehensive simulation study using ns-2 shows that TCP-AP achieves up to 84% more goodput than TCP NewReno, provides excellent fairness in almost all scenarios, and is highly responsive to changing traffic conditions.

This thesis studies the Physical Layer (PHY) of the new IEEE 802.11acWireless Local Access Network (WLAN) standard. The 11ac is built basedon the 11n successful standard. The standard is expected to be completedby the end of 2013. And it promises a Very High Throughput (VHT),and robust communication. In order to achieve that, the 11ac uses morebandwidth, it employs higher numbers of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output(MIMO) spatial streams, and higher orders of modulations. The 11ac PHYframe structure is studied in details. The transmitter and receiver blocks areexplained and implemented by MATLAB. Bit Error Rate (BER) and ErrorVector Magnitude (EVM) simulations of the PHY were run. The effectof different Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS), and bandwidths werestudied. The performance of MIMO and Space-Time Block Coding (STBC)was investigated. The simulation results shows how the 11ac benefits fromthe new employed features. The created MATLAB simulation program canbe used for further tests and research.

The “WLAN in Disaster Emergency Response” (WIDER) project has developed and implemented an emergency communication system. It provides network and communication services to relief organizations. In order to guarantee the stable and efficient connectivity with a high quality of service (QoS) for the end user, and to make the WIDER system more adaptive to the disaster area, the IEEE 802.16 specification based broadband wireless access solution is adopted. This thesis work aims at evaluating and testing the WIDER system integrated with WiMAX. By learning and analyzing the technology, the benefits and perspective for WIDER using WiMAX are described. A WiMAX solution was configured and integrated into the WIDER system. A series of tests and measurements provide us the performance of the WiMAX solution in throughput, QoS, and reality. The tests helped us to learn and verify the improvements for WIDER due to WiMAX. / “WLAN in Disaster Emergency Response” (WIDER) projektet har utvecklat och implementerat ett kommunikationssystem för katastrof situationer. Systemet tillhandahåller nätverk- och kommunikationstjänster för hjälporganisationer. För att garantera en stabil och effektiv anslutning med hög Quality of Service för användarna samt göra WIDER systemet mer anpassbart för katastrofområden, kommer Broadband wireless access som är baserade på IEEE 802.16 specifikationen att användas. Det här examensarbetet har som målsättning att utvärdera och testa WIDER med WiMax tekniken, vi beskriver olika fördelar och synvinklar med att använda WiMax genom att lära oss och analysera tekniken. En WiMax lösning konfigurerades och integrerades i WIDER systemet. En rad tester och mätningar visar WiMax-lösningens prestanda i form av throughput, Quality of Service och realitet. Testerna lärde oss och hjälpte oss att verifiera förbättringarna i WIDER i och med användningen av WiMax.

In recent years, routing research concerning wired networks has focused on minimizing the maximum utilization of the links which is equivalent to reducing the number of bottlenecks while supporting the same traffic demands. This can be achieved using multipath routing with load balancing instead of single path routing using of routing optimizers. However, in the domain of ad hoc networks multipath routing has not been investigated in depth. We would like to develop an analogy between wired and wireless networks, but before that we need to identify the major differences between these two in the case of multipath routing. First, in order to increase the network throughput, the multiple paths have to be independent so they don't share the same bottlenecks. Then, due to radio propagation properties the link capacity is not constant. So using the maximum utilization metric for wireless networks is not suitable. Based on the research done in wired networks, which has shown that using multiple paths with load balancing policies between sourcedestination pairs can minimize the maximum utilization of the links, we investigate if this is applicable to ad hoc networks. This paper proposes a multipath routing algorithm with a load balancing policy. The results obtained from an indoor 802.11g network highlight two major points. The maximum throughput is not achieved with multipath routing, but with single path routing. However, the results on the delivery ratio are encouraging, indeed we observe a real improvement thanks to our multipath routing algorithm. / På senare år har routning forskningen angående trådnätverken focusen på att minska den maximala användingen av länkar vilket motsvarar än reducering av flaskhalsar medan man stöder samma trafikkrav. Det här kan åstadkommas genom att av multiväg routning med lasta balansering I stället för använder enkelvägrouting med routing optimizers. Emellertid har inom ad hoc nätverken multiväg routning har inte blivit undersökts på djupet. Vi skulle vilja utveckla en analogy emellan trådnätverk och trådlösnätverken.men främföre det behöver identifiera de store differenserna mellan dessa två vid multiväg routning. För det första måste de flerfaldiga vägarna vara oberoende för att öka nätverkens throughput så de inte delar samma flaskhalsar. Sedan är länkkapaciteten inte constant på grund av radiospridningsegenskaperna. Så den maximal användningsmetric för trådlös nätverken passar inte. Den här arbetetet föreslår en multiväg routning algoritm med lasta balanseringen. Resultaten få från en indoor 802.11g nätverk framhåller ger två store meningen. Den maximala throughput är inte åstadkoms med multiväg routing, men med enkelväg routning. Emellertid är resultaten på den leveransförhållande uppmuntrande; vi observera en verklig förbättring tack vare vår multiväg routning algoritmen.

IEEE 802.11 based Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) in addition to being used as access networks for providing traditional data services, are now also being used as access networks for providing realtime services such as VoIP and multimedia streaming. These realtime services are sensitive to latency, hence requiring seamless or low delay service from the lower layers throughout an ongoing session. The IEEE 802.11 standard does not define any technique or algorithm to provide seamless connectivity during the process of handoff, hence it does not require 802.11 based WLANs to provide the same. Thus, it is typical that there is a latency of 500 milliseconds to 1000 milliseconds during the handoff, before the mobile station can connect and receive data from the new access point (AP). However, many realtime services can not tolerate this much latency. The problem of handoff latency is further aggravated when WLANs are secured using IEEE 802.11i standard and when Authentication, Authorization & Accounting (AAA) services are involved in controlling network access to 802.11 based WLANs. This thesis will address the entire handoff process and examine the latency -- especially regarding AAA services. Different techniques and suggestions will be presented and analyzed closely at different layers and based on the results, an appropriate/efficient algorithm is suggested which will reduce this handoff latency, such that that seamless handoff can be achieved and realtime services can be provided over 802.11i enabled IEEE 802.11 WLANs. / Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), baserat på IEEE 802.11 har traditionellt nyttjats som som accessnät för vanliga datatjänster. Ett allt vanligare användningsområde har blivit att nyttja samma nät för realtidstjänster som Voice over IP (VoIP) och mutimedia. Realtidstjänster är känsliga för fördröjningar. Fördröjningar som bland annat kan erhållas från de lägre nivåerna i OSI-stacken. IEEE 802.11-standarden definierar ingen teknik eller algoritm för att säkerställa avbrottsfri/fördröjningsfri transmission av data vid handoff och följdaktligen så kan man idag inte luta sig mot denna standard för att erhålla denna funktionalitet. Med nyttjande av befintlig IEEE 802.11 standarder erhålls fördröjningar på mellan 0,5 till 1 sekunder. Detta är naturligtvis inte acceptablet för många realtid och realtidsliknande tjänster. Problemet vid handoff accentueras ytterliggare om kravs ställs på AAA-tjänster för att säkerställa säkerheten i ett IEEE 802.11-baserat WLAN. Denna uppsats adresserar hela handoffprocessen med tillhörande fördröjningar – speciellt med hänsyn till AAA-tjänsterna. Olika tekninker och förslag presenteras och analyseras på olika nivåer. Baserat på erhållna resultat föreslås en algoritm för att reducera tidsåtgång vid handoff, så att realtidsliknande tjänster erhålls, utan störande fördröjningar, vid nyttjande av 802.11i.

This document provides overview of commonly used standards and mechanisms for securing the wireless network based on Wi-Fi protocol. It is covering all important security areas including confidentiality, integrity and authentication. We can find here also detailed analysis and description of functionality of listed mechanisms. Description of possible attacks against listed security mechanisms. There is a measurement of influence of encryption to transfer speed in the another section. It's followed by attacks against particular security mechanisms. And finally, description of deployment of central authentication system.