1. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel NetworksSlide 1 Improving Multicast Reliability Date: 2008-11-11 Authors:

2. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel NetworksSlide 2 Multicast Reliability –The reliability of multicast delivery in 802.11 WLANs is notoriously low. –The reliability of multicast delivery can be dramatically improved by sending multicast MSDUs from an AP to the associated STAs using the Directed Multicast Service (DMS).

3. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel NetworksSlide 3 Directed Multicast Service Benefits Increases the reliability of multicast/broadcast MSDU delivery –Multicast MSDUs are sent as unicast (when channel bandwidth is available) –Unicast is more reliable than multicast –Allows multicast MSDUs to be fragmented, further increasing reliability of delivery Today, multicast MSDUs cannot be fragmented Improves Network Discovery Operations –Especially for low duty cycle service advertisement protocols Improves security of multicast MSDUs –Multicasts sent via unicast can be protected using the client’s negotiated Pairwise cipher with the AP –Today, multicast is protected by the lowest common (or open) authentication Reduces non-AP STA Power Consumption –Sleeping non-AP STAs can retrieve queued multicast frames along with other individually addressed MSDUs on their own schedule, potentially reducing power consumption at the non-AP STA –Sleeping STA doesn’t need to wake up at every DTIM or FBMS interval to receive multicast frames –Sleeping STA only needs to wake up to check the AID TIM bit at a desirable interval (e.g. listen interval)

4. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel NetworksSlide 4 Directed Multicast Service (DMS) Overview AP advertises Directed Multicast Service (DMS) Capability Non-AP STA sends a request to specify traffic classes (i.e. multicast address) for the directed multicast traffic delivery AP may accept or reject the traffic class specified by the non-AP STA If the service is accepted by the AP, –AP shall transmit the requested group addressed (multicast) traffic as individual addressed (unicast) traffic to the requesting STA in an A- MSDU frame format. The AP may still transmit the group addressed traffic for other STAs within the multicast group in the BSS as normal. –The requesting STA shall discard group addressed frames received fro mthe AP that match a multicast address entry list. –Other STAs will process group addressed traffic as normal.

5. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel Networks DMS Request and Response frames Slide 5 CategoryActionDialog TokenRequest Type (“Add” or “Remove”) DMS Descriptor List Octets : 1111 variable DMSIDLengthTCLAS Elements (optional) TCLAS Processing Element (optional) Octets : 1 1 variable3 DMS Descriptor CategoryActionDialog TokenDMS Status List Octets:1111 DMSIDDMS Status Octets : 1 1 DMS Status DMS Request frame: DMS Response frame:

6. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel Networks A-MSDU is used for Directed Multicast Original destination address (DA) is transmitted in A-MSDU subframe header (the DA field) The DA and SA fields of the A-MSDU subframe header contain the values passed in the MA-UNITDATA.request and MA-UNITDATA.indication primitives. (e.g. DA=multicast address) RA (Address 1) in the MAC header is set to the requesting non-AP STA address Support of A-MSDU processing is mandatory according to the IEEE 802.11n draft specification.

7. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel NetworksSlide 7 Questions 1. Is DMS Scalable? 2. How does DMS relate to TGaa’s work?

8. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel NetworksSlide 8 Question 1: Is Directed Multicast scalable? Considerations: –DMS improves the reliability of multicast delivery to the same level as unicast, at the cost of wireless medium (WM) bandwidth. –If a large number of non-AP STAs are using DMS the channel capacity could be exceeded. Solutions: –Limit the DMS service for use by less than x associated STAs. –Enable this feature environments with less than x associated STAs, for example, the home environment. –Allow the AP to disable/reject DMS service when too many STAs are associated. –Allow the AP to disable/reject DMS service when there is insufficient available channel bandwidth to support the current multicast traffic load without unicast traffic effects. –DMS is an optional feature.

9. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel Networks Question 2: How does DMS relate to TGaa work? Considerations: –DMS may overlap with TGaa efforts –TGaa scope: “Improved link reliability and low jitter characteristics for multicast/broadcast audio/video streams.” DMS should be considered in TGv: –DMS extends the existing multicast enhancements in TGv and addresses a TGv objective [Req 2120] –Including DMS in TGv can benefit low bandwidth applications sooner –Including DMS in TGv will also benefit TGaa –DMS is not intended as a general solution to the multicast stream delivery problem (although in an environment of an AP with a single associated STA, DMS is a reasonable, simple approach) Straw poll taken in the May 2008 TGv/TGaa joint meeting: –Directed multicast proposal (11-08-0049)should be considered in: TGv:25; TGaa:8; abstain: 8

10. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel Networks References IEEE Std. 802.11-2007 802.11n Draft 7.0 11-08-0049-03 11-08-0050-03

11. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel Networks Backup Slides

12. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel NetworksSlide 12 Existing Multicast Enhancements in TGv FBMS – Flexible Broadcast/Multicast Service –Enables flexible delivery interval for broadcast/multicast at STA’s request (at multiples of the DTIM intervals) –Enables group addressed frames to be transmitted at higher data rates, reducing the amount of basic rate traffic sent over the wireless medium. Multicast Diagnostics Reporting –STA provides the AP an indication of the number of dropped group addressed frames in order to enable reliable service DMS extends existing multicast enhancements in TGv, naturally fits in TGv

13. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel Networks 802.11aa Requirements Reliable Multicast is a complex problem, and different applications may require different solutions. DMS provides the same level of reliability as unicast for all traffic classes, at the cost of bandwidth –Directed multicast can be used while streaming a multicast Standard Definition (SD) stream to 2 or 3 STAs, it does not scale well for High Definition (HD) video streaming. 802.11aa targets multicast robustness (reliability is a part of robustness) for HD video streaming (high bandwidth) applications –802.11n is sufficient for Standard Definition video streaming DMS targets low bandwidth applications, which is not the target of 802.11aa DMS and 802.11aa target different application spaces

14. doc.: IEEE 802.11-08/1378r0 Submission November 2008 Darwin Engwer, Nortel Networks DMS should be considered in TGv DMS addresses TGv objective [Req 2120]; complements TGv FBMS –FBMS provides power saving for TGv devices. However, the legacy device (non- TGv device) within the BSS will experience unexpected multicast delivery delays. –DMS provides power saving for TGv devices without introducing latency on the legacy (non-TGv) device. However, its usage is limited to a small number of associated STAs due to bandwidth requirements. Including DMS in TGv can benefit low bandwidth applications sooner –TGv is in the process of initial ballots, expected sponsor ballot in 2009 –TGaa is at the stage of calling for proposals, expected sponsor ballot Nov 2010 Including DMS in TGv will also benefit TGaa –All features specified in the existing 802.11-2007 standard and draft amendments (e.g. TGv DMS) can be utilized by later amendments (e.g. TGaa)