Design issues in wireless LANs

Abstract

Wireless Local Area Networks (LANs), while similar in some respects to wired LANs, have many differences that impact their design. The key differences are the unreliable nature of wireless communication and the mobility of stations enabled by their wireless capability. Various design alternatives for wireless LANs are discussed and the advantages and disadvantages of each chioce are argued. The discussion is restricted to the design alternatives that are impacted by the wireless media and the mobile nature of stations for the physical layer, Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol, topology choices for the connectivity of stations, and the networking layer. The choices that have been made in current systems are briefly described and the potential advantages of alternative designs are discussed.