FTF 2014 – NET-F0374

Andrew Ross
Embedded Wireless FAE

Silex Technology America, Inc.

E-mail: aross@silexamerica.com
Web: www.silexamerica.com
 How do you save power?
 Description of Power Save Modes:
◦ Active Mode
◦ PS Poll Mode
◦ Automatic Power Save Delivery
◦ Wake-on-Wireless
 Wireless LAN Security and Power Save
 New device options in WLAN Technologies
 Q&A
 Physical
◦ Sending information determined by physics of RF
transmission
◦ 802.11 specification is defined and limited by regulatory
limits
◦ Existing Transmit power management in proprietary
hardware
 Transmit efficiency
◦ Increasing the % of real data in the information consuming
energy
 Turning things off
◦ Minimizing power draw while waiting for information to
send
 Power save modes have always been part of 802.11
specification
◦ Included in original 1999 specification
 Originally designed for wirelessly connecting laptops to
networks
◦ Large batteries
 Only recently with the addition of WiFi to mobile devices have
smaller batteries been used with WiFi enabled devices
 Greater focus on power save within WLAN
 Latest applications are the motivation
◦ IP phones
◦ IP video distribution (Netflix, Hulu, etc.)
◦ Internet radio (Milk, Slacker, etc.)
 Power vs. distance
◦ Wired is a linear relationship
◦ Wireless is an inverse square law relationship
 Constant listening
◦ Wired can react to level change on cable allowing the
receiver to be off.
◦ Wireless, without synchronization, requires the receiver to
be on all the time

Even if you do everything right..

 Conflict between security and power save

◦ Need to support security standards imposes maintenance
of authentication that uses power.
 Part of the original 802.11 standard
 Constrained by the infrastructure (AP and STA)
 Looking to address the demands of the modern
platforms (1999)

 What is PSM?
◦ It utilizes the beacon period of the AP
◦ A Power save bit in the packet from the client
◦ The Traffic Indication map (TIM)
◦ A listening period called DTIM
◦ A PS-Poll packet to initiate information delivery
 Why use it?
◦ Provides a method by which the STA can sleep when
information is not being transferred
 Latency vs. band width vs. power
◦ Bound to AP beacons
◦ Trade-off between latency and power
◦ Leads to a trade-off between bandwidth and power
 Compatibility with AP , too long a DTIM and data can be
discarded and even stability of association to AP’s can suffer.
 PSM is not suited to high data demand due to PS-Poll packet.
 Applications like IP phones and video streaming impacted by
the PSM process.
 Difficult to balance network performance and power save
demands
◦ AP’s set conditions
◦ STA are driven by applications
 New power save approach needed to address application
demands.
 Solution:
◦ Automatic Power Save Delivery (APSD)
 Originally part of WiFi Multi Media (WMM) now
referred to as WMM Power Save
 Not constrained by infrastructure
◦ Not bound by beacons periods or DTIM
 Data driven and client initiated
 Two modes
◦ Unscheduled
◦ Scheduled
 Attempt to deal with power save due to the
application level changes in the use of WiFi
 Unscheduled Automatic Power Save Delivery
 Similar to PSM but prompts delivery of data from
the STA by sending a packet called a trigger frame.
 The use of the trigger frame is not bound by AP
beacon period or DTIM schedule.
 Allows STA Wake-Send-Receive-Sleep cycle to be
based upon application data period, using trigger
frame.
 Targeted at bidirectional communication e.g. IP
phones
 Scheduled Automatic Power Save Delivery
 Closely related to 802.11e Quality of Service
(QoS).
 Utilizes a unit of data called a ‘stream’
 Stream interval is requested by the client
 Allows STA Wake-Send-Receive-Sleep cycle to
function on application data period, without using
PS-Poll or trigger frame.
 Targeted at stream type communication e.g. video
and audio streaming
 Power Save Multi-Poll
◦ 802.11n extension that adds ability to reserve a time slot
for Tx and Rx between the STA and AP
◦ Allows for direct control of the time the STA is off.
◦ Both Scheduled and Unscheduled versions defined.
 Dynamic MIMO Power Save
◦ Defined to allow radio to turn off unnecessary transmitters
when application demand doesn’t require them
◦ Allows 3x3 11n radio to drop to a 2x2 or 1x1
 Energy to send/receive information does not
change
 How do you save it?
◦ Doing it as efficiently as possible
 Lower percentage of management content
◦ Turning on and off
 Fast on-off transitions
◦ Knowing when to save power
 Where do you save it?
◦ Radio
◦ Host
◦ Both.....
 Can the WLAN interface manage power for the
whole system?
 Does it make sense that the radio controls the PM
for the system?
◦ Sometimes
 It is aware of when it needs to be on and when it
can be off.
 Can this awareness be communicated to the host?
◦ Yes
 Based upon the Wake-on-LAN
◦ An Ethernet standard that allows systems to be awakened
by a network message
◦ Allows the host to go to sleep
◦ LAN controller stays active and wakes host when it detects
network message (magic package)
 WoW allows the WLAN to stay active, detect TIM
and send PS-POLL
 WLAN wakes the host via an interrupt when a
magic packet is detected
 Allows the host to minimize power consumption by
entering a low power mode, while the WLAN listens for
a magic packet
 The magic packet is defined by filters
◦ Targeted packet for STA
◦ Key rotation
◦ Group message
◦ etc....
 Usually the WLAN packet is encrypted, it is not always
possible for the radio to decrypt without using an
application on the host – security supplicant.
◦ Requires the radio to wake the host in order to process
 Wake-Process-Sleep cycle for host initiated by WLAN
 Overall there are two parts to saving power
◦ Optimize radio on time
 PSM (PS-POLL)
 APSD
◦ Minimize host on time
 WoW
 Turn it OFF!
 The world is good.....but is it?
 Trouble lurks in competing demands...
 A quick review:
◦ WEP
◦ WPA
◦ WPA2
 Security standard 802.11i defines the requirements
 Saving power and maintaining security are
conflicting requirements.
◦ Security is important
◦ Requires transfer of information that is not linked to
application
◦ Impacts efficiency of information transfer
◦ Requires the radio to be on
◦ In most cases requires the host is on
 Power save has the radio and host in active mode
when there is data
But...
 Security (802.11i) requires maintenance of the link
encryption that cannot be handled just by the radio
◦ Initial connection
◦ Renewing keys
◦ Roaming
 This means you need to use energy to be secure.
◦ Turning on the radio and the host to maintain the link
 Why can’t we all just get along?
 Remove security?
 WLAN device manufacturers develop chipsets for
specific purposes
 For instance Silex supplies the SX-SDMAN based
upon the Atheros AR6233 SIP.
 The Atheros 6K3 family of products were
developed for low power mobile applications
◦ Low stand-by power
◦ Fast, efficient switching of Tx/Rx circuits (on and off)
◦ Ability to automatically switch from PSM to CAM and back
based upon data delivery demands
◦ Support for WoW
◦ Reduced host based demand
 Atheros 9K family uses a PCIe interface for high
performance
◦ High host based demand
 What are these mythical things
◦ Do they have a magic way of transmitting data that defies
the laws of physics?
 New classification of devices referred to as:
◦ Low Power WiFi
◦ Ultra Low Power WiFi
◦ Internet-of-Things
◦ Internet-of-Everything
 Supplied by
◦ Silex
◦ Gainspan
◦ Redpine Signals
◦ Connect One
◦ Roving Networks
 They use the same radios
 They require all the same pieces
◦ Host (running OS or not, networking, radio driver, etc)
◦ 802.11 Baseband
◦ RF Transceiver
◦ FEM
◦ Switches
◦ Power Supply....

No surprises...so what makes them different?

 The integration of the components is greater than we have seen
with the more traditional WiFi solutions
◦ Integration equals more efficient hardware, smaller footprints, lower level
control of functions and hardware, faster on/off times, lower voltages,
etc..
 A reduced set of capabilities (subset of traditional solutions)
◦ Reducing the throughput of the devices.
◦ Not supporting all WiFi standards/options
◦ Limiting security to reduce the use of host based applications
Increased
hardware
efficiencies

Not magic just

good
engineering...
 There are a number of Power Save modes that
can...
◦ Improve the efficiency of the data transferred
◦ Minimize the devices ‘ON’ time
 Use the PSM mode the suites your application
 Account for power usage not directly linked to your
application demands
 Understand the deployment demands and address
these as part of the development of your solution
 Look at the different WLAN device technologies
and pick the one that is best for your long term
application requirements
 STA – Station, this is the wireless client radio in infrastructure
mode.
 AP –Access Point this is the master radio in infrastructure
 Infrastructure – A wireless network that is established and
maintained by an AP and allows STA’s to connect to it.
 WPA – Wireless Protected Access a security standard that
uses TKIP or AES encryption and the use of a pre-shared
common key.
 PSM – Power Save Mode (PS-Poll)
 APSD – Automatic Power Save Delivery
 CAM – Constantly Active Mode
 EDCA – Enhanced Distributed Channel Access. Part of WMM
allows for prioritization of packets and contention free
periods.
 WMM – Wireless Multi Media
 TIM – Traffic Indication Map
 DTIM – Delivery Traffic Indication Message