CTS 211: A Look Into 802.11v

News * The spread of COVID-19 is getting serious. We talked about its effects on Wi-Fi and on our jobs* 2020 WLPC videos are available* There will be a WLPC 2020 in Mexico in Spanish* Wireless Update #2 is out on The Wi-Fi YouTube Channel* Aruba announced a new technology called Aruba Air Pass designed to ease roaming between Wi-Fi and cellular connections 802.11v From the standards: Defines mechanisms and services for Wireless Network Management of STAs that include BSS transition management, channel usage and coexistence, collocated interference reporting, diagnostic, multicast diagnostic and event reporting, flexible multicast, efficient beacon mechanisms, proxy ARP advertisement, location, timing measurement, directed multicast, extended sleep modes, traffic filtering, and management notification.  IEEE 802.11v or BSS Transition is an amendment that was published in 2011 and added to the IEEE 802.11-2012 standards. The objective of this amendment was to develop extensions to the 802.11 MAC/PHY to provide network management for STAs including: * L2 management of attached stations* Monitoring the attached stations* Configuring the attached stations* Updating the attached stations Most of the time in the enterprise place, we use it to enhance roaming (BSS Transition). While the IEEE 802.11k amendment defined messages to retrieve information from the station, the ability to configure the station was not in its scope. So the 802.11v amendment is complementary to the 802.11k amendment. For example, with 802.11v, the AP can request a client to roam to a specific AP. You can read it in full within the 802.11-2016 standard in section 11.24. The Action frame details are in section 9.6.14.1. Procedures within 802.11v * Event request and report* Enables the network to perform real-time diagnostics. * Event field will be set to 1* Can keep track of transition events* RSNA events* Peer-to-peer link events* WNM log events* Diagnostic request and report* Provides diagnostic and debugging of network issues* Diagnostics field set to 1* The report can contain an overall result of the transaction* Can include manufacturer information specific about an associated station* Can include association diagnostics, tests can be completed to a specific AP* Can include 802.1X authentication diagnostics to determine if station is able to complete 802.1X authentication with a designated BSS* Location tracking * Method to allow tracking of other station’s location using Location Indication Channels, Location Indication Interval and Location Indication Broadcast Data Rate sub-elements* Motion detection and Time of Departure reporting is optional* Timing measurement* Fine timing measurement* Allowing a station to determine its distance from another station.* BSS Transition management for load balancing* Most common* Goal is for improved throughput, effective data rate and QoS for aggregate of stations in a network by transitioning individual station traffi...