On the evaluation of make-before-break handovers in urban WiFi networks for moving vehicles

Due to the increasing deployment of city-wide IEEE 802.11 networks for nomadic Internet access, there is a great potential for users wanting to access the network while being on the move. However, due to the limited coverage range of single access points in these networks, handovers between them need to be carefully managed. This issue becomes critical if we consider vehicular users, where the high speed and mobility pattern greatly affect the connectivity performance. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of different handover approaches in a real commercial deployment under vehicular mobility constraints. In particular, we consider using a second wireless interface in order to achieve make-before-break handovers. Additionally, we identify some open issues that constrain IEEE 802.11 commercial deployments in providing completely seamless connectivity for moving vehicles.

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

[2]  Hari Balakrishnan,et al.  Cabernet: vehicular content delivery using WiFi , 2008, MobiCom '08.

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

[4]  A. Zubow,et al.  The Impact of Adjacent Channel Interference in Multi-Radio Systems using IEEE 802.11 , 2008, 2008 International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference.

[5]  Samir Ranjan Das,et al.  Predictive methods for improved vehicular WiFi access , 2009, MobiSys '09.

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

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

[8]  Alberto Blanc,et al.  Urban 802.11 Community Networks for Mobile Users: Current Deployments and Prospectives , 2012, Mob. Networks Appl..

[9]  E. Ivov,et al.  Soft Handovers over 802.1lb with Multiple Interfaces , 2005, 2005 2nd International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems.

[10]  Arun Venkataramani,et al.  Augmenting mobile 3G using WiFi , 2010, MobiSys '10.

[11]  Claudio Casetti,et al.  Seamless Connectivity and Routing in Vehicular Networks with Infrastructure , 2011, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[12]  Alberto Blanc,et al.  Wi2Me: A Mobile Sensing Platform for Wireless Heterogeneous Networks , 2012, 2012 32nd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops.

[13]  Arun Venkataramani,et al.  Interactive wifi connectivity for moving vehicles , 2008, SIGCOMM '08.

[14]  Ratul Mahajan,et al.  Understanding wifi-based connectivity from moving vehicles , 2007, IMC '07.

[15]  German Castignani,et al.  A study of the discovery process in 802.11 networks , 2011, MOCO.

[16]  Julien Montavont,et al.  Enhanced schemes for L2 handover in IEEE 802.11 networks and their evaluations , 2005, 2005 IEEE 16th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications.

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

[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]  Julien Montavont,et al.  IEEE 802.11 Handovers Assisted by GPS Information , 2006, 2006 IEEE International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications.

[20]  J. T. Robinson,et al.  Experimenting with a multi-radio mesh networking testbed , 2005 .