Enhancement of IEEE 802.11 in handling multiple broadcasting audio data in wireless ad-hoc networks

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing fund and can be downloaded from the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2013 Audio Engineering Society.Audio networking is a growing field, introducing new and exiting possibilities in the professional audio industry [1]; but it also drastically changes the way audio systems will be designed, built, and used. Today’s networks have enough bandwidth to transport hundreds of high quality audio channels, replacing hundreds of kilograms of cabling in conventional analog audio systems [2]. Currently there are many systems on the market that distribute audio over Ethernet but the majority of sound engineers are not using them yet. There are mainly two reasons that audio networks are not as popular as expected. First, many of the systems are based on a proprietary implementation that does not allow interoperability between different vendors. Second, wired networks, like the conventional analog audio networks, also need a cable installation. It is therefore understood that the development of a wireless digital audio distribution system would be a significant contribution in this sector. IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) as the primary wireless technology in computer networking has made wireless networks widely available and inexpensive. With its most recent amendments, as well as the use of the 5-GHz ISM band, it can facilitate many high quality audio channels. However, the use of this technology has not been the choice for the audio industry so far. It is obvious that a sequence of problems related with the nature of this technology impede the use of Wi-Fi in professional live sound and studio applications [3]. Apart from the well-known drawbacks of interference and security, encountered in all wireless data transmission systems, the way that Wi-Fi arbitrates the wireless channel access is what causes the majority of the problems. In this paper we highlight the drawbacks of the IEEE 802.11 MAC algorithm in handling multiple stations broadcasting of audio data. We simulate a live audio data wireless network and test the limits of the protocol for this type of traffic. Moreover, we modify the 802.11 MAC algorithm to address the above problems. We test the amended protocol using simulation and analyze the results. We also give the directions for the future research in order for this widely accepted technology to be used in the professional audio industry

Denial of service attacks and challenges in broadband wireless networks

Broadband wireless networks are providing internet and related services to end users. The three most important broadband wireless technologies are IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, and Wireless Mesh Network (WMN). Security attacks and vulnerabilities vary amongst these broadband wireless networks because of differences in topologies, network operations and physical setups. Amongst the various security risks, Denial of Service (DoS) attack is the most severe security threat, as DoS can compromise the availability and integrity of broadband wireless network. In this paper, we present DoS attack issues in broadband wireless networks, along with possible defenses and future directions

Reliability, availability and security of wireless networks in the community

Wireless networking increases the flexibility in the home, work place and community to connect to the Internet without being tied to a single location. Wireless networking has rapidly increased in popularity over recent years. There has also been a change in the use of the internet by users. Home users have embraced wireless technology and businesses see it as having a great impact on their operational efficiency. Both home users and industry are sending increasingly sensitive information through these wireless networks as online delivery of banking, commercial and governmental services becomes more widespread. However undeniable the benefits of wireless networking are, there are additional risks that do not exist in wired networks. It is imperative that adequate assessment and management of risk is undertaken by businesses and home users. This paper reviews wireless network protocols, investigates issues of reliability, availability and security when using wireless networks. The paper, by use of a case study, illustrates the issues and importance of implementing secured wireless networks, and shows the significance of the issue. The paper presents a discussion of the case study and a set of recommendations to mitigate the threat

Passive security threats and consequences in IEEE 802.11 wireless mesh networks

The Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) is ubiquitous emerging broadband wireless network. However, the open wireless medium, multi-hop multi-radio architecture and ad-hoc connectivity amongst end-users are such characteristics which increases the vulnerabilities of WMN towards many passive and active attacks. A secure network ensures the confidentiality, integrity and availability of wireless network. Integrity and availability is compromised by active attacks, while the confidentiality of end-users traffic is compromised by passive attacks. Passive attacks are silent in nature and do not harm the network traffic or normal network operations, therefore very difficult to detect. However, passive attacks lay down a foundation for later launching an active attack. In this article, we discuss the vulnerable features and possible passive threats in WMN along with current security mechanisms as well as future research directions. This article will serve as a baseline guide for the passive security threats and related issues in WMNs

A Media Access Control Protocol for Wireless Adhoc Networks with Misbehaviour Avoidance

The most common wireless Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol is IEEE 802.11. Currently IEEE 802.11 standard protocol is not resilient for many identified MAC layer attacks, because the protocol is designed without intention for providing security and with the assumption that all the nodes in the wireless network adhere to the protocol. However, nodes may purposefully show misbehaviours at the MAC layer in order to obtain extra bandwidth con-serve resources and degrade or disrupt the network performance. This research proposes a secure MAC protocol for MAC layer which has integrated with a novel misbehaviour detection and avoidance mechanism for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs). The proposed secure MAC protocol the sender and receiver work collaboratively together to handshakes prior to deciding the back-off values. Common neighbours of the sender and receiver contributes effectively to misbehaviours detection and avoidance process at MAC layer. In addition the proposed solution introduces a new trust distribution model in the network by assuming none of the wireless nodes need to trust each other. The secure MAC protocol also assumes that misbehaving nodes have significant levels of intelligence to avoid the detectio

Cloned Access Point Detection and Point Detection and Prevention Mechanism in IEEE 802.11 Wireless Mesh Networks

IEEE 802.11 Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) is an emerging low cost, decentralized community-based broadband technology, which is based on self-healing and multi-hop deployment of Access Points (APs), so that to increase the coverage area with maximum freedom to end-users to join or leave the network from anywhere anytime having low deployment and maintenance cost. Such kind of decentralized structure and multihop architecture increases its security vulnerabilities especially against the APs. One of such possible security attack is the placement of cloned AP to create serious performance degradation in IEEE 802.11 WMN. In this paper, we discuss the different security vulnerabilities of AP in IEEE 802.11 WMN along with possible research directions. We also propose a mutual cooperation mechanism between the multi-hop APs and serving gateway so that to detect and prevent the possibility of cloned AP. In this way the large scale exploitation of IEEE 802.11 WMN can be eliminated