Techniques to reduce the IEEE 802.11b handoff time

We analyze the link-layer handoff process in wireless LANs based on the IEEE 802.11b standard and suggests how to reduce its duration. Firstly, we divide the process into three phases: detection, search and execution. Our performance measurements indicate that the detection and search phases are the main contributors to the handoff time. We show that the link-layer detection time can be reduced to three consecutive lost frames. We also show that the search time can be reduced at least by 20% using active scanning with the two timers that control its duration set to 1 ms and 10.24 ms. Several simulations illustrate the achieved reduction in handoff time.