Location-based fast handoff for 802.11 networks

摘要

This paper presents a location-based approach that reduces handoff overhead in IEEE 802.11 networks. With this approach, a mobile station (MS) can derive the prospective access points (APs) most likely to be visited next, using the current location and the AP topology information acquired from some designated server. The server also provides parameters for AP (re)association so that the MS can re-associate with an AP directly without a probe beforehand. Further along the movement orientation, the MS can resolve a likely set of APs for preauthentication or proactive key distribution purposes. The performance evaluation indicates that our approach is promising.