Achieving seamless handoffs via backhaul support in Wireless Mesh Networks

In Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs), mobile clients may experience frequent handoffs due to the relatively small transmission range of the mesh routers. Each handoff may lead to packet delays and/or packet losses, which limits the performance of real-time applications over WMNs. In this work, we propose BASH—a Backhaul-Aided Seamless Handoff scheme. BASH takes advantage of the wireless backhaul feature of WMNs, and allows a mobile station to directly access the backhaul channel to probe the neighboring mesh routers. Our work shows that by utilizing the wireless backhaul, BASH (1) reduces the probing latency and, thus, the Layer-2 handoff latency; (2) allows partial overlap of the Layer-2 and Layer-3 handoffs, reducing the overall handoff latency; and (3) shortens the authentication latency by utilizing the transitivity of trust relationship. The experimental results show that BASH achieves an average Layer-2 handoff of 8.9 ms, which supports real-time applications during the handoff.

[1]  Christos Bouras,et al.  Fast IP handoff support for VoIP and multimedia applications in 802.11 WLANs , 2005, Sixth IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless Mobile and Multimedia Networks.

[2]  Vishnu Navda,et al.  Design and evaluation of iMesh: an infrastructure-mode wireless mesh network , 2005, Sixth IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless Mobile and Multimedia Networks.

[3]  Suman Banerjee,et al.  Eliminating handoff latencies in 802.11 WLANs using multiple radios: applications, experience, and evaluation , 2005, IMC '05.

[4]  Allan C. Rubens,et al.  Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) , 1997, RFC.

[5]  Anand Rangarajan,et al.  Designing and deploying a rural ad-hoc community mesh network testbed , 2005, The IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks 30th Anniversary (LCN'05)l.

[6]  Chandrakanth Chereddi.  SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE FOR MULTICHANNEL MULTI-INTERFACE WIRELESS NETWORKS , 2006 .

[7]  Yan He,et al.  Exploring 700mhz WiFi-based wireless mesh networking , 2009, MobiHoc '09.

[8]  Prasant Mohapatra,et al.  Experimental characterization of an 802.11b wireless mesh network , 2006, IWCMC '06.

[9]  R. Akl,et al.  Dynamic Channel Assignment in IEEE 802.11 Networks , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Conference on Portable Information Devices.

[10]  Sangeetha L. Bangolae,et al.  Performance study of fast BSS transition using IEEE 802.11r , 2006, IWCMC '06.

[11]  Waqar Mahmood,et al.  Pre-scanning and dynamic caching for fast handoff at MAC layer in IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs , 2005, IEEE International Conference on Mobile Adhoc and Sensor Systems Conference, 2005..

[12]  Marc Emmelmann,et al.  System Design and Implementation of Seamless Handover Support Enabling Real-Time Telemetry Applications for Highly Mobile Users , 2008 .

[13]  Yanghee Choi,et al.  Optimization of AP placement and channel assignment in wireless LANs , 2002, 27th Annual IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks, 2002. Proceedings. LCN 2002..

[14]  Yuji Oie,et al.  Experimental Evaluation of Decision Criteria for WLAN Handover: Signal Strength and Frame Retransmission , 2007, IEICE Trans. Commun..

[15]  Hung-Yu Wei,et al.  Seamless Handoff Support in Wireless Mesh Networks , 2006, 2006 1st Workshop on Operator-Assisted (Wireless Mesh) Community Networks.

[16]  Sampath Rangarajan,et al.  LIHP: a low latency layer-3 handoff scheme for 802.11 wireless networks , 2006, 2006 International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks(WoWMoM'06).

[17]  Henning Schulzrinne,et al.  Reducing MAC layer handoff latency in IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs , 2004, MobiWac '04.

[18]  Lixin Gao,et al.  Practical schemes for smooth MAC layer handoff in 802.11 wireless networks , 2006, 2006 International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks(WoWMoM'06).

[19]  William A. Arbaugh,et al.  An empirical analysis of the IEEE 802.11 MAC layer handoff process , 2003, CCRV.

[20]  A. Watanabe,et al.  Proposal for a Wireless Mesh Network that realizes seamless handover and its simulation results , 2007, 2007 International Symposium on Communications and Information Technologies.

[21]  Konstantina Papagiannaki,et al.  Using smart triggers for improved user performance in 802.11 wireless networks , 2006, MobiSys '06.

[22]  Christos Bouras,et al.  Improvements on “IP – IAPP”: A fast IP handoff protocol for IEEE 802.11 wireless and mobile clients , 2007, Wirel. Networks.

[23]  William A. Arbaugh,et al.  Proactive key distribution using neighbor graphs , 2004, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[24]  William A. Arbaugh,et al.  Improving the latency of 802.11 hand-offs using neighbor graphs , 2004, MobiSys '04.

[25]  Gunnar Karlsson,et al.  Techniques to reduce the IEEE 802.11b handoff time , 2004, 2004 IEEE International Conference on Communications (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37577).

[26]  Seongkwan Kim,et al.  An Empirical Measurements-based Analysis of Public WLAN Handoff Operations , 2006, 2006 1st International Conference on Communication Systems Software & Middleware.

[27]  Haitao Wu,et al.  Proactive Scan: Fast Handoff with Smart Triggers for 802.11 Wireless LAN , 2007, IEEE INFOCOM 2007 - 26th IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications.

[28]  Edward W. Knightly,et al.  Measurement driven deployment of a two-tier urban mesh access network , 2006, MobiSys '06.

[29]  Marc Emmelmann,et al.  System design and implementation of seamless handover support enabling real-time telemetryhighly mobile users , 2008, MobiWac '08.

[30]  Anand R. Prasad,et al.  Fast authentication methods for handovers between IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs , 2004, WMASH '04.

[31]  Claudiu Danilov,et al.  Fast handoff for seamless wireless mesh networks , 2006, MobiSys '06.

[32]  Stefan Savage,et al.  SyncScan: practical fast handoff for 802.11 infrastructure networks , 2005, Proceedings IEEE 24th Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies..

[33]  Sampath Rangarajan,et al.  Make-Before-Break MAC Layer Handoff in 802.11 Wireless Networks , 2006, 2006 IEEE International Conference on Communications.

[34]  Hiroyuki Morikawa,et al.  Using Shared Beacon Channel for Fast Handoff in IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networks , 2007, 2007 IEEE 65th Vehicular Technology Conference - VTC2007-Spring.