DSMeM Streaming: distributed system to mitigate the effects of performance anomaly and user mobility on IEEE 802.11 WLANs

Abstract

On IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs (WLAN) the clients have control over the handoff procedure; a client decides the best AP (access point) to be associated to and when and where to change its association to a new AP. This simple handoff management technique can have negative effects for both static and mobile clients of the same cell, since some wireless clients remain associated with their current AP even when a better AP is reachable. Combined with handoff latencies, this mobility method can have a negative effect on various services with severe restrictions regarding delivery rate and delay. In this paper, a distributed and transparent system that monitors channel conditions, manages user data based on its knowledge and induces client handoffs when a better AP is reachable, is presented. One of the strongest points of the proposed solution is that it can work in currently deployed IEEE 802.11 WLANs without the server, clients or APs having to introduce new software.