IEEE 802.11 handoff latency improvement using Fuzzy Logic

Multimedia transmissions are delay-sensitive Internet applications. Because mobile stations are in continual motion, handoff processes are necessary and unavoidable in wireless network environments. Because handoff processes tend to break the communication link, the research has been conducted on reducing the break time and arrival delay during Internet multimedia applications. In this paper, we propose an approach based on Fuzzy Logic to evaluate the average variation in signal strength received by a mobile station and produce a FitAP factor. This factor indicates the possible handoff access point that is suitable for the mobile station. According to the FitAP factor, a mobile station needs only to execute an active scan process once. Therefore, smaller handoff latency is expected. We compare the results from the current cell search scheme with that of the Fuzzy Logic approach. The statistical results show that the proposed method outperforms the current cell search scheme with an improved handoff latency performance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.