May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 1

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Hotspot Type Identification Assisted Network Selection

Date: 2007-05-03

Notice: This document has been prepared to assist IEEE 802.11. It is offered as a basis for discussion and is not binding on the contributing individual(s) or organization(s). The material in this document is subject to change in form and content after further study. The contributor(s) reserve(s) the right to add, amend or withdraw material contained herein.

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Authors:Name Company Address Phone email

Colin Blanchard BT Group MLB1 PP8 BT Adastral Park

Ipswich Suffolk

UK IP5 3RE

+44 1473 605353 Colin.Blanchard@bt.com

Ian Hughes BT Group BT Adastral Park Ipswich Suffolk

UK IP5 3RE

+44 1473 606412 ian.c.hughes@bt.com

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 2

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Abstract

This contribution builds on the proposal from Necati Canpolat in 11-07/0446 by adding a full definition of “Network Type” to the Modified ESSID Information Element.

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 3

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Agenda

• Background and Problem Description –No change from 11-07/0446

• Solution Outline - No change from 11-07/0446

• Modified ESSID Information Element – Alternative proposal for Network type definition and coding

• Selection criteria

• Coding principles

• Use Case

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 4

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Background and Problem Description

• Today as the WLAN air interface is currently defined, before accessing the network, a STA can only tell if the network security is enabled or not.

• When a STA tries to select a WLAN network there is no way of telling which network is private, public, enterprise or hotspot and their authorization mechanisms.

• Example use case:– Client powers up in a downtown urban setting, scans the environment and detects

100 SSIDs. Client must sort the list into those SSIDs to process further and those to discard

– Important for client to conserve battery energy during sorting process, so a fast sorting mechanism is beneficial

– After first-pass fast sort, client can make targeted GAS queries to determine services available, online enrolment possibility, etc.

• To enable seamless handover, the client needs to know whether to:– Programmatically launch a browser or HTTP client: even if SSID is open auth, web

auth may still be employed denying service until login completed (this indication is helpful when WLAN does not support state-1 access to 802.21-IS).

– Programmatically launch VPN if needed: VPN may be needed on public networks, but not on home enterprise network.

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 5

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

WLAN Type and Access details

Scenario description Web Auth Notes

Home network No No registration nor payment needed

A enterprise private network No

Authorized users only. E.g., corporation, university.

A enterprise private network with guest access Yes & No Authorized guest users only

Public free network Yes & No

Participants users only. E.g., museum, Portland downtown network, IEEE conference.

Commercial network Yes & No

Typical designation for hotspot or mesh network. May require user’s acceptance of provider’s terms. E.g., Coffee shop, airport, hotel networks.

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 6

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Solution Outline

• Configure the WLAN indicating the type of the network i.e. hotspot/public/enterprise/private access.

• Advertise the WLAN type and enrolment method.

• The STAs can listen to it prior to WLAN association in state-1 and make use of hotspot configuration information when making network selection.

• After the STA detects that the WLAN type, it may perform the proper steps to establish network connection and enrolment.

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 7

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Modified ESSID Information Element as proposed in 11-07/0446

Element ID Length ESSID Network Type

Octets: 1 1 6 1

• ESSID IE copied from 802.11u-D0.02;

Network Type Value

Home 0

Enterprise 1

Enterprise with Guest Access

2

Public Free 3

Commercial 4

Reserved 5 - 255

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 8

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Selection Criteria (no such thing as a free lunch)

Chargeable Free

Subscription Pay As You Go Everything Restricted

Basic Enhanced Single user Multi-user Advertisements No Ads Subset Canned

Vol./Bandwidth Restricted Time Restricted

Location Restricted

Content and Distribution

Control

No enhanced security

Go away

WLAN

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 9

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Coding Principles

– Bit 0 is set to 0 if the service is chargeable• Bit 1 can then be set to indicate pay as you go or subscription • Bit 2 can be used to indicate choices that are typical for a chargeable service

– Bit 0 is set to 1 if the Service is Free. • Bit 1 can be used to indicate if the Free service gives you access to everything

or is restricted in some way • Bit 2 can be used to indicate choices that are typical for a free service

– Finally bits 3,4,5,6,7 are used indicate restrictions that can apply to all networks (often with no obvious reason) and that are likely to be used in combination

• For example, your pay as you go voucher will expire at the end of 30 days (terms and conditions)

• Another example is the use of Enhanced Security which could even apply to a Free service. The negative sense is used for this, so that “11111111” means "go away”

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 10

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Coding Principles

• Any system will need to identify "private - go away" at the highest level, but any other parameters (if unused after this) become irrelevant and effectively waste half of the available "code space" – If you used bit 0 with a value of 1 = come in, 0 = go away, then

0xxxxxxx (where x is either 0 or 1) would still be go away - wasting half of the possible combinations for a single instruction.

• The proposed method acknowledges the need for this "go away" message, but does so by using an unlikely (and easily "recognised") bit pattern – in this case “Chargeable/Subscription/Enhanced/Restricted

somethings[x4]/no enhanced security”

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 11

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Modified ESSID Information Element Alternative proposal

B0 B1 B2 B3

B4

B5

B6

B7

Chargeable/Free Pay as you go/restricted / subscription/Everything

Basic/Single User/Advertisements/Subset/Everything/ Enhanced/Multi-user/ No adverts/Canned

Restrictions

0 = Free 1 = Chargeable

0 = Pay as you go/restricted1 = subscription/ everything

0= Basic//Single User/Advertisements/Subset/1= Everything/Enhanced Multi-user/ No adverts/Canned

Bits: 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

See next slide for coding for B3 to B7

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 12

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Modified ESSID Information Element Alternative proposal

B3 B4 B5 B6 B7

Volume Bandwidth restricted

Time Restricted Location RestrictedContent and distribution controlled by DRM or T&C’s

No enhanced Security

0 = No1 = Yes

0 = No1 = Yes

0 = No1 = Yes

0 = No1 = Yes

1= No0 =Yes

Bits: 1 1 1 1 1

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 13

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Use Case step 1

• Bob is taking his son to university and finds a network that indicates “0000101”– Bit 0 is set to 0 so the Service is Free.

• Bit 1 at 0 indicates that this gives access to everything

• Bit 3 is at 0, so his son will have to put up with adverts

• Bit 5 set is to 1 which indicates there is some form of location restriction (probably free on the campus only)

• Bit 7 at 1 means no enhanced security is needed e.g. VPN

• Bob stores this network id for further investigation

May 2007

Blanchard, Hughes

Slide 14

doc.: IEEE 802.11-07/0752r0

Submission

Use Case step 2

• Bob then wants to find a network for his son that he can use in his student accommodation, some miles from the campus

• Bob is paying, and wants to make use of the service himself at any location

• At the student accommodation, he looks for a service that allows multi-user pay as you go accounts i.e. will not reject parallel connections from two different MAC addresses at two different locations. His application software ignores any network with bit 1 set to 1, bit 2 set to 0 and bit 5 set to 1.