A caching-list based fast handoff mechanism in wireless mesh networks

It is critical for time-sensitive applications to realize seamless connectivity with bounded data transmission delay in wireless mesh networks (WMNs). This paper presents a caching-list based fast handoff mechanism (CLH) which includes two parts: first, the client needs to keep a list of available access points; second, when the client needs to handoff, it will send an authentication request frame rather than probe request frame in active scanning. We evaluate the benefits of CLH in a real network which only needs to modify the wireless driver (madwifi) in the client side. Our result shows that CLH improves the availability and results in reducing the handoff latency.