Fault tolerance in IEEE 802.11 WLANs

in this paper, we address the problem of enhancing the fault tolerance of IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks focusing on tolerating access point - AP failures. We develop a fault detection approach, which promises to be more effective to identify AP failures. In particular, we focus on the problem of overcoming APs failures working with reconfiguration of the remaining APs by changing parameters such as power level and frequency channels. Our approach consists of two main phases: Design and Fault Response. In Design phase, we deal with quantifying, placement and setting up of APs according to both area coverage and performance criteria. In Fault Response phase we consider the reconfiguration of active APs in order to deal with AP fault in the service area. Finally, we describe one of the major characteristics of the proposed architecture, which is a simple implementation in concordance with established IEEE 802.11 standards and related management systems.