Time division configuration multiplexing of wireless interfaces

Virtual wireless interfaces are not as easy to manage as virtual fixed interfaces. Compared to Ethernet, 802.11 supports several operational modes for the MAC-layer. According to the way of operation, virtualizing the wireless interface means to switch between the available configurations and to track the states of each network connection and keep them consistent between the virtual interfaces. In this paper we shed some light on the technical requirements and methods used to achieve virtualization of 802.11 interfaces for stations and access points. We propose a mechanism that allows a virtual wireless interface in access point mode to run side by side with another virtual wireless interface, each configured to a different channel. An experimental performance evaluation of the proposed mechanism shows promising results.