MAC Header EKS Bit Encoding for Wireless Throughput
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing wireless communication systems, such as WiMAX and LTE, face bandwidth overhead due to the transmission of three security bits in MAC headers, which contributes to reduced bandwidth and throughput.
Innovation Solution
The scheme encodes both forward state updates of encryption keys and the encrypted state of packets using only two EKS bits, eliminating the need for an EC bit, thereby reducing the MAC header size from 6 bytes to 4 bytes, allowing for efficient encryption and key sequence management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If three security bits (EC bit and two EKS bits) are transmitted in each MAC header for encryption and key sequence management, then security functionality is maintained, but MAC header overhead increases and bandwidth efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the EC bit and two EKS bits into a single 2-bit EKS field. The 2-bit EKS field encodes both encryption state information and key sequence information simultaneously, merging multiple security functions into one compact field. This reduces the header overhead from 3 bits to 2 bits while maintaining all necessary security functionalities including encryption state indication and key sequence tracking.
Solution Approach 2:
The 2-bit EKS field serves multiple functions: it indicates whether the payload is encrypted or unencrypted, identifies the current encryption key sequence, and enables forward key application. By making this single field universal and multi-functional, the patent eliminates the need for separate EC and EKS bits, thereby reducing overall header size while maintaining comprehensive security management.
2Loss of information
If three security bits are included in each MAC header, then encryption state and key sequence information are transmitted, but bandwidth throughput is reduced due to increased overhead
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the EC bit and two EKS bits into a single 2-bit EKS field, the patent transmits both encryption state and key sequence information more efficiently. This consolidation reduces the number of bits that must be transmitted in each MAC header, thereby decreasing overhead and increasing the proportion of bandwidth available for actual data transmission, which improves overall throughput.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter representation by encoding multiple security parameters (encryption state, key sequence) into a compact 2-bit field with specific encoding rules. Different bit patterns in the 2-bit EKS field represent different combinations of encryption states and key sequences, allowing efficient transmission of security information with minimal overhead, thus preserving bandwidth throughput.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of retrieving security information in a media access control (MAC) header by a wireless station may include receiving a data unit, such as a protocol data unit (PDU), from a remote wireless station. The PDU may include the MAC header. The method may also include reading two encryption key sequence (EKS) bits in the MAC header that denote both whether the data unit is encrypted and a position in an encryption key sequence for the data unit.