An efficient neighbor information signaling method for handoff assistance in 802.11 wireless

Fast Handoff is one of the major requirement of the next generation wireless networks. Providing mobile stations with prior knowledge of the neighboring Access points (AP) can assist them in taking a fast and accurate link layer Handoff decisions. Collection of neighbor information at Access points and further disseminating this information to the mobile stations attached to a given AP is a challenging task. But, this task should be accomplished without making changes to the 802.11 standards or any huge client/AP modifications. Computational complexity and backward compatibility of such schemes is also an important issue. We have proposed an efficient method of disseminating neighboring AP channel information to the stations. Purpose of providing neighboring AP information to the stations is to reduce the number of channels scanned at the time of Handoff. Stations can use this information in conjunction with the existing syncscan algorithm[2] to achieve faster hand off. We have mathematically analyzed this scheme and proved that signaling overheads due to this scheme are well within the permissible limits. This approach is also backward compatible with the conventional Handoff approaches.