Unifying Wi-Fi® and VLANs with the RINA Model

This paper reports the results of applying the fundamental networking principles embodied in the Recursive InterNet Architecture (RINA) to unifying VLANs and WiFi. There are two purposes to this: 1) to explore what these principles tell us about VLANs and WiFi that we might not have been previously aware and to explore whether they indicate any improvements or simplifications, and 2) to test the universality of the principles underlying RINA. This work was prompted by the striking similarity of WiFi and VLAN-both are multiple layers of the same rank on a common media. Applying the IPC Model and its instantiation in RINA, we first construct minimal layers tailored to each media and then tailor a universal layer for the resulting environment unifying the two. This has two purposes: 1) to simplify and improve WiFi and VLAN technology, without many of the issues and complexity currently plaguing both 802.11 and 802.1; and 2) to test the limits of the IPC Model and RINA.