IEEE 802.11e-Wireless Connectivity Gaining Momentum

The recent years have seen high demand for wireless connectivity. Consumer demand for bandwidth-hungry applications is also rising along side. Whether it is wired or wireless service, connectivity becomes imperative for all mobile applications. A support for connectivity is even more demanding to Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) because wireless bandwidth availability is restricted however Quality of Service (QoS) is acute. The access to 802.11e ensures better QoS. It is now considered as a wireless version of ethernet. The significant features of IEEE 802.11e.11e include dedicated bandwidth for critical users and applications, limiting jitter and latency required by real-time traffic, minimizing network congestion, shaping network traffic to smooth the traffic flow and setting network traffic priorities.

The WLAN is designed with 2 modes of communication for wireless stations namely Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) and Point Coordination Function (PCF). DCF supports coordination but not the priority access while PCF supports time-sensitive traffic flow by splitting time into contention-free and contention period. The IEEE has defined 802.11e enhancement to both the modes to facilitate QoS because these modes are unable to distinguish between traffic types or sources. Undoubtedly 802.11e has greater preferences because it introduces the concept of traffic categories and it can implement upto 8 traffic categories. It lets lower priority traffic to wait than high priority traffic when consumers try to access the WLAN medium. It will identify the home and roaming user, therefore it protects high priority data from low priority data. IEEE 802.11e ensures high quality communication by over-provisioning a network so that capacity is based on peak traffic load estimates while accessing video conferencing, multimedia, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and online games. It identifies the type of service and then uses various queuing strategies to tailor performance to requirement at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer.

The capacity limitations of wireless technologies becomes a bottleneck for communication. 802.11e is an apt solution to address QoS concerns and offers multiple layers of quality of service. This technology assists in monitoring and helps in installing additional access points.

Gaining Momentum

Wireless LAN is gaining huge traction because of its lower price and it is easily deployable across vast locations. IEEE 802.11e networks are widely deployed for commercial, public usage and consumer application and mobile hotspots are augmenting. It has witnessed higher acceptance in various verticals such as retail, finance, education, aviation, healthcare, and enterprise environments. IEEE 802.11e is one of the best revenue generating methods. In urban India, malls, IT tech parks, other commercial centers, hotels have mushroomed at a faster pace. In these places, enhanced 802.11e could be deployed and SSID could be issued to get better RoI and ensure consumer satisfaction. It is a win-win situation for all-operators, deployers, and users. Consumers can benefit from these mobile hotspots. It offers superior experience than Wi-Fi. The most prominent quality of IEEE 802.11e is that it can differentiate high priority data from low priority data via the access points.

In all these mobile hotspots, IEEE 802.11e extends high quality of service for voice over wireless, video applications, and multimedia streaming. It offers lowest bandwidth for guest service to ease the connectivity problem faced by WLAN client. IEEE 802.11e should be mapped with access points of high priority. It will reduce congestion on network. Business and social trends moving towards mobility, seamless connectivity and convergence will drive 802.11e. QoS will start to provide improved application performance as traffic on the network increases. QoS helps to keep latency, jitter, and packet loss for selected traffic types within acceptable limits by providing downstream prioritization from the AP.

If telcos have to stay ahead in this highly cut-throat competitive telecom world, they should offer better quality of service viz stability of service, availability of service, delays, reliability, scalability, effectiveness, and maintainability. QoS is directly proportional to gain loyal customers who would not mind paying a pie more than the usual price for quality. It would not be a surprise if broadband becomes a public utility service that will be offered either on wire or wireless.

Malini N
malinin@cybermedia.co.in