The IEEE 802.11 effort (11k) to provide measurements has resulted in a request/response mechanism so end user devices and Access Points can obtain information from each other. In addition, the Management Information Base (MIB) serves as the repository of the information for use by upper layers. The mechanism for accessing the information in the MIB is by Object Identification (OID) addressing. This chapter provides an overview of the mechanisms and the use of the MIB to deliver more accurate and useful information for a more precise wireless environment. At publishing time, 11k had passed from Working Group Letter Ballot to Sponsor Ballot and therefore was still be subject to change until the specification is approved as a standard.

Introduction

One of the major difficulties with radio and wireless environments is the propensity for interference and radio physics to cause issues for the applications and users of these wireless systems. This propensity is what makes national regulatory control necessary, but there is much more to the issues than just regulatory control. In order to manage and control wireless, standards are needed and information is required to assess what to do about frequency allocations, radio physics problems, interference, and protocols needed to manage the exchange of data wirelessly. Measured wireless systems are the first step to managing the interference and radio physics issues in all wireless systems. In the case of the IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), the measured WLAN is specified in the “k” amendment to 802.11.