Classification of Handoff Schemes in a Wi-Fi-Based Network

Abstract

Handoff management of the users is one of the major issues wi-fi-based wireless LAN. The total handoff process can be divided into three phases, namely scanning, authentication, and re-association. If mobile client frequently changes its position while accessing internet, number of handoffs also increases proportionally. Frequent handoffs affect the quality of service of different wireless applications because of large handoff latency. Many schemes have been developed for reducing handoff delay. In this chapter, handoff management schemes have been classified based on the phase in which the scheme works. Thus, the techniques have been classified as scanning-based schemes, authentication-based schemes, and re-association-based schemes. This chapter also classifies the handoff schemes into two categories based on the number of radios used: single-radio-based handoff schemes and multi-radio-based handoff schemes. The schemes under each of the class have been discussed in detail. A comprehensive comparison of all the schemes has also been presented in this chapter.