ieee80211: defer radio commands until Tx becomes idle

[mgonzalezlopezudc]

A radio command can reach the radio before an accepted acknowledgment (ACK) frame starts transmission.
This affects simulations that reconfigure an IEEE 802.11 radio during a response.
The MAC previously checked only whether the medium was free, which cannot identify a response that waits to start.
The MAC now keeps the command until the accepted transmission completes.

Medium access control (MAC) controls channel access and exchanges frames.
Tx is the MAC component that transmits frames immediately or after a specified delay.
For example, Tx accepts an ACK and waits through the short interframe space (SIFS) before transmission.
A radio command arrives during SIFS, when the medium can still be free.
The MAC keeps that command until the ACK completes, so radio reconfiguration follows the response.
The focused module test exercises this condition and checks command deferral, ACK completion, and command release.

Custom implementations of ITx, the interface for Tx, need the new hasTransmission() method to compile.
Simulations that reconfigure radios can observe a later command and a different event order.

Commit and contracts

• 61bbe08306: Fix radio command deferral in the MAC and release pending commands after recipient responses.

The query returns true while Tx retains an accepted transmission, including the wait before transmission starts.
Tx clears that state before it calls ICallback::transmissionComplete(), the callback that reports completion to the coordination function.
The callback must observe the cleared state so it can release a pending command.
The query returns false when Tx holds no accepted transmission.

The hybrid coordination function (HCF) and distributed coordination function (DCF) release pending commands after recipient responses complete.
Hcf::sendUp() becomes virtual so the focused test can consume received frames without an upper protocol stack.
The test exercises HCF; it does not directly exercise DCF.
The release note and migration guide describe the user effect and the new query contract.

Validation

The following results apply to 61bbe08306331e72d9a2235a1f0197082c8c0d2d:

• Debug and release compilation pass.
• The focused module test passes in debug mode with seed 0.
• All 30 configurations in the baseline table pass tplx, ~tNl, and ~tND in debug mode.
• The fingerprint campaign executes 30 tests in 172.200 seconds.
• Scoped architecture, commit, classification, source seal, and whitespace checks pass.

The control result below applies to 24e04008315f2d0769a3bf55b91d132c51304726.
The control removes the !tx->hasTransmission() condition from both MAC guards while it keeps the rest of the fix.
That control fails at pendingRadioConfigMsg == command because the MAC sends the radio command before the ACK.
With both guards present, the same test passes.

Run the focused regression from the repository root:

source ./setenv -q
make MODE=debug CXX='ccache clang++' -j6
make MODE=release CXX='ccache clang++' -j4
inet_run_module_tests -m debug --no-concurrent -f 'Ieee80211PreparedCancellation_1\.test'

Run the fingerprint cases from tests/fingerprint after the root environment setup.
Create radio-selection.csv with the corresponding rows from the three tracked CSV files.
Include exactly the 30 rows in the baseline table.

./fingerprinttest -d -t 6 -m . -f tplx -f '~tNl' -f '~tND' radio-selection.csv

Global architecture, naming, and interface checks report existing violations in unchanged files.
The grouped opp_repl fingerprint helper remains unverified for this head.
The 30-case result comes from fingerprinttest.
Statistical impact, graphical fingerprints, other seeds, and release-mode behavior remain unverified.

Baselines

The diff contains 30 approved updates: thirteen example rows, thirteen showcase rows, and four tutorial rows.
Only tplx, the complete event fingerprint, changes from the PR merge base, 03e927c18a2060ae147d2f736f3c03cd623477a3.
The numerical fingerprints ~tNl and ~tND retain their base values.
The command follows the accepted response, which changes event order.

The following table shows the base and final values for four QoS configurations.
QoS means quality of service, the traffic treatment that distinguishes service needs.

Directory	Configuration	Base tplx	Radio tplx
examples/wireless/qos	MacQos	3a58-19c0	a686-bbed
examples/wireless/qos	MacQosWithoutAggregation	33e5-c380	8ea1-98b9
examples/wireless/qos	MacQosWithRtsCts	7f3b-72ca	4686-3691
showcases/wireless/qos	Qos	8d7c-5091	b214-9d7e

The next table names every changed configuration.
Each row uses run 0.
The file names refer to CSV files under tests/fingerprint.

File	Directory	Configuration	Run
examples.csv	examples/dhcp	WirelessDHCP	0
examples.csv	examples/dhcp	Wireless2DHCP	0
examples.csv	examples/ipv6/mipv6	Handover	0
examples.csv	examples/ipv6/mipv6	RouteOptimizationTwoCNs	0
examples.csv	examples/ipv6/mipv6roaming	Roaming	0
examples.csv	examples/ipv6/pmipv6	General	0
examples.csv	examples/wireless/handover	General	0
examples.csv	examples/wireless/qos	MacNonQos	0
examples.csv	examples/wireless/qos	MacQos	0
examples.csv	examples/wireless/qos	MacQosWithoutAggregation	0
examples.csv	examples/wireless/qos	MacQosWithRtsCts	0
examples.csv	examples/wireless/qos	MacQosWithBlockAck	0
examples.csv	examples/wireless/wiredandwirelesshostswithap	General	0
showcases.csv	showcases/visualizer/canvas/ieee80211	OneNetwork	0
showcases.csv	showcases/visualizer/canvas/ieee80211	MultipleNetworks	0
showcases.csv	showcases/visualizer/canvas/ieee80211	VisualizingHandover	0
showcases.csv	showcases/visualizer/canvas/ieee80211	SignalLevels	0
showcases.csv	showcases/visualizer/canvas/interfacetable	AdvancedFeatures	0
showcases.csv	showcases/visualizer/canvas/networkpathactivity	ChangingPaths	0
showcases.csv	showcases/visualizer/canvas/packetdrop	QueueOverflow	0
showcases.csv	showcases/visualizer/canvas/physicallinkactivity	Filtering	0
showcases.csv	showcases/visualizer/canvas/styling	Annotation	0
showcases.csv	showcases/wireless/handover	General	0
showcases.csv	showcases/wireless/multiradio	General	0
showcases.csv	showcases/wireless/qos	NonQos	0
showcases.csv	showcases/wireless/qos	Qos	0
tutorials.csv	tutorials/configurator	Step8A	0
tutorials.csv	tutorials/configurator	Step8B	0
tutorials.csv	tutorials/configurator	Step9	0
tutorials.csv	tutorials/configurator	Step12	0

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