802.11 Medium Contention

I highly recommend that wireless professionals, new or seasoned to the field, watch this video about 802.11 medium contention by Meru's CTO. Bharghavan goes through the basics of medium contention in random access networks (versus controlled access networks such as token ring/bus, TDM, etc.). He does a great job of explaining in simple terminology how the standards define the protocol operation, and then goes further to relate the importance and advantage of some of Meru's proprietary enhancements that work within the standard.

I've had the pleasure of getting an in-person presentation by the Meru staff and they definitely have innovative technology. 


Much of the content in this video is equivalent to a Master's degree level course I took in Data Communications and Computer Networks. I encourage individuals to learn and develop the protocols of the future to investigate graduate degree programs in these types of fields.


Graduate Lectures on Data Communications and Computer Networks (lectures 5-6 cover IEEE 802.3 and 802.11 medium contention):
http://www-users.cselabs.umn.edu/classes/Fall-2012/csci5211/index.php?page=lecture%20slides