Power Management in

IEEE 802.11
Yu-Chee Tseng
@CS.NCTU
1.
2.
3.

Possible Access Sequences

for a STA in PS Mode
PS in Infrastructure Network
PS in Ad Hoc Network

Motivation

Since mobile hosts are supported by

battery power, saving battery as much
as possible is very important.

Power management in 802.11

in infrastructure network vs. ad hoc network

PCF vs. DCF

Introduction

Power management modes

Active mode (AM)

Power Save mode (PS)

Power consumption of ORiNOCO

WLAN Card
Transmit
mode

Receive
mode

Idle mode

Doze
mode

1400mW

900mW

700mW

60mW

Basic Idea

AP or source hosts buffer packets for

hosts in PS mode.

AP or sources send TIM periodically.

TIM = traffic indication map (a partial virtual

bitmap associated with station id)
TIM is associated with beacon.

Hosts in PS mode only turn on antenna

when necessary.

Hosts in PS mode only wake up to monitor

TIM.

Basic Idea: TIM Types

TIM :

Delivery TIM (DTIM):

transmitted with every beacon (for Unicast)

transmitted less frequently (every DTIM_interval)
for sending buffered broadcast packets

Ad hoc TIM (ATIM):

transmitted in ATIM-Window by stations who

want to send buffered packets
structured the same as TIM

Basic Idea:
An Illustration Example

Possible Access Sequences

for a STA in PS Mode
immediate response
immediate response with
fragmentation
deferred response

Power Saving Sequences

802.11 stations shut down the radio

transceiver and sleeping periodically to
increase battery life.
During sleeping periods, access points buffer
any unicast frames for sleeping stations.
These frames are announced by subsequent
Beacon frames.
To retrieve buffered frames, newly awakened
stations use PS-Poll frames.
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Immediate Response

AP can respond immediately to the PS-Poll

PS-Poll frame contains an Association ID in
the Duration/ID field so AP can determine
which frames were buffered for the MS.
Since Duration is not used, it assumes

NAV = SIFS + ACK

Although the NAV is too short, the medium is
seized by data frame.

Example: Immediate
Response

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Immediate Response with

Fragmentation

If the buffered frame is large, it

may require fragmentation.

** note: the change of NAVs

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Deferred Response

After being polled, the AP may

decide to respond with a simple
ACK.

although promised, AP does not act

immediately
AP may do regular DCF activities
the PS station must remain awake
until it is delivered
12

fig. 3-21

The PS station must stay awake

until the next Beacon frame in
which its bit in TIM is clear.
Fragmentation is possible too.

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PS in Infrastructure
Network

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Assumptions and Models

Assumptions:

TIM interval (beacon interval) and

DTIM interval are known by all hosts

requires time synchronization

Two Operational Models:

under DCF (contention-based)

under PCF (contention-free): omitted
15

Under DCF (Infrastructure

Mode)

Basic assumption:

use CSMA/CA to access the channel

RTS, CTS, ACK, PS-Poll are used to overcome

the hidden-terminal problem

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Operations of TIM (in DCF)

AP periodically broadcasts beacon with

TIM.

but STAs may have different wake-up

intervals.

Hosts in PS must wake up to check TIM.

If found having packets buffered in AP,
send PS-Poll to AP (by contention).

AP replies PS-poll with ACK or DATA.

The receiver must remain in active mode
until it receives the packet.

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Buffered Frame Retrieval

Process for Two Stations

Station 1 has a listen interval = 2.

Station 2 has a listen interval = 3.

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Multicast and Broadcasting:

Delivery TIM (DTIM)

Frames are buffered whenever any

station associated with the AP is sleeping.
Buffered broadcast and multicast frames
are saved using AID = 0.
AP sets the first bit in the TIM to 0.
At a fixed number of Beacon intervals, a
DTIM is sent.
Buffered broadcast and multicast traffic is
transmitted after a DTIM Beacon.
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Buffer Transmission after

DTIM

DTIM interval = 3
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(omitted)
Under PCF (Infrastructure
Basic Assumption:
Mode)

Point coordinator uses CF-Polling to access

the channel.

AP only maintains the CF-Pollable stations.

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Operations of TIM (PCF)

AP broadcasts beacon with TIM.

Hosts in PS mode checks TIM for their IDs.

Then AP polls those PS stations.

When being polled, the station (in PS mode)
sends PS-Poll to AP.

If there are buffered packets in AP, the host must

remain in Active Mode until being polled.
O/w, the station goes back to PS mode.

Then AP sends buffered packets to the station.

(See next page.)

AP must poll stations in PS mode first.

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Beacon_
Interval

Data

Poll

ACK

PS-poll

STA 2 in
PS mode

TIM

ACK

STA 1 in
PS mode

PS-poll

AP

Data

Poll

TIM

TIM

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Operations of DTIM (PCF)

All CF-pollable stations need be in

Active Mode when AP broadcasts
DTIM.

Immediately after DTIM, AP sends

out the buffered
broadcast/multicast packets.
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Broadcast Data

DTIM

Beacon_
Interval
TIM

TIM

AP

STA 1 in
PS mode

STA 2 in
PS mode

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PS in Ad Hoc Mode
(without base station)

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Announcement TIM (ATIM)

All stations in an IBSS listen for

ATIM frames during specified
periods after Beacon
transmissions.

Stations that do not receive ATIM

frames are free to conserve power.
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ATIM Usage

28

ATIM Window

If the beacon is delayed due to a traffic overrun,

the useable portion of the ATIM window shrinks.

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PS in Ad Hoc Mode

Assumptions:

beacon interval & ATIM window are known by all

hosts
Each station predicts which stations are in PS
mode.
The network is fully connected.

Basic Method:

CSMA/CA is used to access the channel.

RTS, CTS, ACK, PS-Poll are used to overcome
hidden terminal.

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Operations of ATIM

All stations should be in active mode

during ATIM window.

The station which completes its backoff

procedure broadcasts a beacon.

Sending beacon is based on contention.

Any beacon starts the ATIM window.
Once a beacon is heard, the rest beacons are
inhibited.

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In ATIM window, each source station

having buffered packets to be sent
contends to send out its ATIM.

If a host finds it is in the ATIM name list,

If the host is not in the name list,

send an ACK to the sender.

remain in the ACTIVE mode throughout the
beacon interval.
it can go back to the PS mode.

After ATIM window,

all stations use CSMA/CA to send the

buffered packets

basic idea: data packet >> ATIM control frames

only those hosts who have ACKed the ATIM

have such opportunity.
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ATIM Example

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ATIM Example (STA 1 Waking

Up STAs 2, 3, and 4)

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Summary of PS

infrastructure network

PCF
DCF (omitted)

ad hoc network

DCF

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