Abstract
We propose a MAC layer handoff mechanism for IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) to give benefit to bandwidth-greedy applications at STAs. The proposed mechanism determines an optimal AP with the maximum achievable throughput rather than the best signal condition by estimating the AP's bandwidth with a new on-the-fly measurement method, Transient Frame Capture (TFC), and predicting the actual throughput could be achieved at STAs. Since the TFC is employed based on the promiscuous mode of WLAN NIC, STAs can avoid the service degradation through the current associated AP. In addition, the proposed mechanism is a client-only solution which does not require any modification of network protocol on APs. To evaluate the performance of the proposed mechanism, we develop an analytic model to estimate reliable and accurate bandwidth of the AP and demonstrate through testbed measurement with various experimental study methods. We also validate the fairness of the proposed mechanism through simulation studies.
Highlights
As wireless networking grows in popularity, various radio access technologies have been developed to provide better environment for user data service
We evaluate the performance of the Transient Frame Capture (TFC) on (1) reliable and (2) accurate estimation of Access Point (AP)’s bandwidth capacity by studying experiments in various traffic environments
We show that the prediction of the achievable throughput, which is the basis of the estimated bandwidth capacity, well matches the actual throughput from the AP even applying (3) rate discount based on the Frame Error Rate (FER) measurement
Summary
As wireless networking grows in popularity, various radio access technologies have been developed to provide better environment for user data service. We propose a MAC layer handoff mechanism for IEEE 802.11 WLAN by using AP’s capability information as a handoff criterion, especially an achievable throughput from APs. To estimate the achievable throughput, we devise a new method, namely, Transient Frame Capture (TFC). (1) We provide a client-only solution for the achievable throughput-based handoff mechanism so that it does not require any modifications or changes on AP’s protocol and configuration. That is, it works with any existing setup of already deployed WLAN infrastructure. The proposed handoff mechanism enables STAs to select the most bandwidth-beneficial AP This gives an advantage of balancing the load on the different types of APs.
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