Proactive handover for IEEE 802.11r networks

The handover performance is critical to support multimedia services in the wireless networks. The algorithm should allow fast selection of the most suitable Access Point. However, in most solutions the handover is reactive and causes Mobile Station to reassociate with the Access Point that offers the strongest received strength signal at a time. The station may miss the chance to handover to the Access Point that offers better traffic conditions until the current association is maintained. In the paper the novel Proactive Handover Algorithm is proposed that incorporates 802.11k measurements for better characterization of the access point. Moreover, the protocol is proactive and allows reassociation with the best Access Point at a time. Finally, the handover delay is limited to 3 milliseconds excluding time required to switch the channel. The results were proved via simulation experiments.