An Analysis of Handoff in Multi-band 802.11 Networks

Author

Murray, David ; Koziniec, Terry ; Dixon, Michael

Author_Institution

Murdoch Univ., Perth

fYear

2007

fDate

8-11 Oct. 2007

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

10

Abstract

The availability of public access WLANs (Wireless LANs) is growing with many cities now announcing municipal city-wide networks. This opens a new realm of possible applications such as telephony and gaming. However, before many of these applications can become widespread, the issue of mobility must be solved. Currently, the time required for wireless clients to handoff or transition their connection between APs (Access Points) is too long, causing call dropouts. This study investigates a specific aspect of handoff known as scanning. Improvements to current scanning mechanisms are proposed and tested in a variety of experiments. In addition, our experimental approach reveals previously unknown scanning issues in 802.11 networks.

Keywords

mobile radio; radio access networks; wireless LAN; access point; call dropouts; handoff analysis; multiband 802.11 networks; municipal city-wide networks; network scanning mechanism; public access WLAN; wireless LAN mobility; wireless clients; Authentication; Availability; Cities and towns; Delay; Internet telephony; Probes; Quality of service; Wireless LAN; Wireless networks; Wireless sensor networks;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Mobile Adhoc and Sensor Systems, 2007. MASS 2007. IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Pisa

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1454-3

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-1455-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MOBHOC.2007.4428661

Filename

4428661