802.11 MAC Point Coordination Function

Thu Feb 16 08:57:59 UTC 2012

On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 8:13 PM, Jeremy <jbaino at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm doing some research on 802.11 quality of service, congestion control,
> etc. I'm trying to find some information on the Point Coordination
> Function, a polling based access control method, but I'm having a hard time
> finding much in the way of vendor support. I have access to some cisco
> 1242's, 1140's and 1252's and I've been searching the Cisco's site and
> can't find a real answer on whether or not it's supported let alone how to
> configure it.
>
> Does anyone have any experience with this? Does Cisco have some special
> name for it aside from PCF? Any help would be appreciated!

I know of no such feature in "classic" Aironet APs. Everything I've
run across only does classic 802.11-style DCF along with all the
stations.
You might check out the Aironet 1550, which supports forming dynamic
mesh-like topologies, though I can't speak to it as I've never laid
hands on the hardware or software.

Other vendors and hackers are implementing alternative media-access
control and coordination functions, though.
You might check out Ubiquiti's AirMax-speaking hardware or
ieee80211_tdma in FreeBSD for software MAC-capable drivers.

Cheers,
jof