IEEE standard for LANs

13.1
 13-2 STANDARD ETHERNET

The original Ethernet was created in 1976 at Xerox’s

Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Since then, it has
gone through four generations. We briefly discuss the
Standard (or traditional) Ethernet in this section.

Topics discussed in this section:

MAC Sublayer
Physical Layer

13.2
 802 Overview Basics of physical and logical networking concepts.
802.1 Bridging LAN/MAN bridging and management. Covers
management and the lower sub-layers of OSI Layer 2,
including MAC-based bridging (Media Access Control),
virtual LANs and port-based access control. This also
contains the time-sensitive networking task group.
802.2 Logical Link Disbanded
802.3 Ethernet "Grandaddy" of the 802 specifications. Provides
asynchronous networking using "carrier sense, multiple
access with collision detect" (CSMA/CD) over coax,
twisted-pair copper and optical fiber media. Current speeds
range from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps. 
Check on the commonly used list of  802.3 technologies.
 802.4 Token Bus Disbanded
 802.5 Token Ring Disbanded
 802.6 Distributed queue dual bus Superseded.
(DQDB) Revision of 802.1D. Superseded by 802.1D-2004.
 802.7 Broadband LAN Practices Disbanded
 802.8 Fiber Optic Practices Disbanded
 802.9 Integrated Services LAN Disbanded
802.10 Interoperable LAN security Disbanded

13.3
 802.11  Wi-Fi Wireless LAN Media Access Control and Physical Layer specification. 802.11a, b, g, etc. are amendments to the
original 802.11 standard. Products that implement 802.11 standards must pass tests and are referred to as "Wi-Fi
certified."
802.11a •Specifies a PHY that operates in the 5 Ghz U-NII band in the US -- initially 5.15-5.35 AND 5.725-5.85 -- since
expanded to additional frequencies
•Uses Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing
•Enhanced data speed to 54 Mbps
•Ratified after 802.11b
802.11b •Enhancement to 802.11 that added higher data rate modes to the DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) already
defined in the original 802.11 standard
•Boosted data speed to 11 Mbps
•22 MHz Bandwidth yields 3 non-overlaping channels in the frequency range of 2.400 GHz to 2.4835 GHz
•Beacons at 1 Mbps, falls back to 5.5, 2, or 1 Mbps from 11 Mbps max.
802.11d •Enhancement to 802.11a and 802.11b that allows for global roaming
•Particulars can be set at MAC layer
802.11e •Enhancement to 802.11 that includes quality of service (QoS) features
•Facilitates prioritization of data, voice and video transmissions
802.11g •Extends the maximum data rate of WLAN devices that operate in the 2.4 GHz band, in a fashion that permits
interoperation with 802.11b devices
•Uses OFDM Modulation (Orthogonal FDM)
•Operates at up to 54 megabits per second (Mbps), with fall-back speeds that include the "b" speeds
802.11h •Enhancement to 802.11a that resolves interference issues
•Dynamic frequency selection (DFS)
•Transmit power control (TPC)
802.11i •Enhancement to 802.11 that offers additional security for WLAN applications
•Defines stronger encryption, authentication and key exchange, as well as options for key caching and pre-
authentication
802.11j •Japanese regulatory extensions to 802.11a specification
•Frequency range 4.9 GHz to 5.0 GHz
802.11k •Radio resource measurements for networks using 802.11 family specifications
802.11m •Maintenance of 802.11 family specifications
•Corrections and amendments to existing documentation
802.11n •Higher-speed standards
•Several competing and non-compatible technologies; often called "pre-n"
•Top speeds claimed of 108, 240 and 350+ MHz
•Competing proposals come from the groups, EWC, TGn Sync, and WWiSE and are all variations based on MIMO
 (multiple input, multiple output)
13.4 802.11x •Misused "generic" term for 802.11 family specifications
 802.12 Demand Priority Disbanded
802.13 Not used Not used
802.14 Cable modems Disbanded
802.15 Wireless Personal Area Networks Communications specification that was approved in early 2002 by the IEEE for
wireless personal area networks (WPANs).
802.15.1 Bluetooth Short range (10 m) wireless technology for cordless mouse, keyboard and wireless
headphones at 2.4 GHz.
802.15.3a UWB Short-range, high-bandwidth "ultra wideband" link
802.15.4 ZigBee Short-range wireless sensor networks
802.15.5 Mesh Network •Extension of network coverage without increasing the transmit power or the receiver
sensitivity
•Enhanced reliability via route redundancy
•Easier network configuration - Better device battery life
802.16 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks Hibernating.
This covers Fixed and Mobile Broadband Wireless Access methods that are used to
create Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks. Connects Base Stations to the Internet
using OFDM in unlicensed (900 MHz, 2.4, 5.8 GHz) or licensed (700 MHz, 2.5 - 3.6
GHz) frequency bands. Products that implement 802.16 standards can
undergo WiMAX> certification testing.
802.17 Resilient Packet Ring Disbanded
802.18 Radio Regulatory TAG Supports IEEE 802 LMSC and IEEE 802 wireless Working Groups. Actively
participates in and monitors radio regulatory matters.
802.19 Coexistence Makes standards for coexistence between different wireless standards for unlicensed
devices.
802.20 Mobile Broadband Wireless Access Disbanded
802.21 Media Independent Handoff Hibernating.
Enables optimization of higher layer services. This includes IoT and handover
services -- specifically between IEEE 802 networks.
802.22 Wireless Regional Area Network Hibernating. Creates a standard to enable spectrum sharing.
802.23 Emergency Services Working Group Disbanded
802.24 Vertical Applications Technical Focused on application categories which use IEEE 802
Advisory Group (TAG) Standards, or use multiple work groups. For these, 802.24 acts as a point of contact
with other organizations focused on other IEEE 802 standards. 802.24 can also serve
as a resource for understanding the IEEE 802 standards by developing white papers
and other documents.

13.5
 Figure 13.3 Ethernet evolution through four generations

13.6
 Figure 13.4 802.3 MAC frame

13.7
 • PREAMBLE – Ethernet frame starts with 7-Bytes Preamble. This is a pattern of alternative 0’s and 1’s
which indicates starting of the frame and allow sender and receiver to establish bit synchronization.
Initially, PRE (Preamble) was introduced to allow for the loss of a few bits due to signal delays. But
today’s high-speed Ethernet don’t need Preamble to protect the frame bits.
PRE (Preamble) indicates the receiver that frame is coming and allow the receiver to lock onto the data
stream before the actual frame begins.
• Start of frame delimiter (SFD) – This is a 1-Byte field which is always set to 10101011. SFD indicates
that upcoming bits are starting of the frame, which is the destination address. Sometimes SFD is
considered the part of PRE, this is the reason Preamble is described as 8 Bytes in many places. The SFD
warns station or stations that this is the last chance for synchronization.
• Destination Address – This is 6-Byte field which contains the MAC address of machine for which data
is destined.
• Source Address – This is a 6-Byte field which contains the MAC address of source machine. As
Source Address is always an individual address (Unicast), the least significant bit of first byte is always
0.
• Length – Length is a 2-Byte field, which indicates the length of entire Ethernet frame. This 16-bit field
can hold the length value between 0 to 65534, but length cannot be larger than 1500 because of some
own limitations of Ethernet.
• Data – This is the place where actual data is inserted, also known as Payload. Both IP header and data
will be inserted here if Internet Protocol is used over Ethernet. The maximum data present may be as long
as 1500 Bytes. In case data length is less than minimum length i.e. 46 bytes, then padding 0’s is added to
meet the minimum possible length.
• Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) – CRC is 4 Byte field. This field contains a 32-bits hash code of
data, which is generated over the Destination Address, Source Address, Length, and Data field. If the
checksum computed by destination is not the same as sent checksum value, data received is corrupted.

13.8
 Figure 13.5 Minimum and maximum lengths

13.9
 Note

Frame length:
Minimum: 64 bytes (512 bits)
Maximum: 1518 bytes (12,144 bits)

13.10
 Figure 13.6 Example of an Ethernet address in hexadecimal notation

13.11
 Figure 13.7 Unicast and multicast addresses

13.12
 Note

The least significant bit of the first byte

defines the type of address.
If the bit is 0, the address is unicast;
otherwise, it is multicast.

13.13
 Note

The broadcast destination address is a

special case of the multicast address in
which all bits are 1s.

13.14