Enhanced Seamless Handoff Using Multiple Access Points in Wireless Local Area Network

Prabhavathy.G Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 5, Issue 6, ( Part -1) June 2015, pp.46-50
www.ijera.com 46 | P a g e
Enhanced Seamless Handoff Using Multiple Access Points in
Wireless Local Area Network
Prabhavathy . G, Elangovan. K
1
(PG Scholar, Department of ECE, Sri Ram Engineering College/Anna University, India)
2
(Assistant Professor, Department of ECE, Sri Ram Engineering College/Anna University, India)
Abstract
The Mobility in wireless cellular communication systems is its backbone so as to enhance the quality of service
and maintain the continuous service. Handoff is an important task in maintaining the continuity of call in
cellular systems and its failure can result in ongoing call termination. In cellular mobile networks, the coverage
region is divided into smaller cells in order to achieve high system capacity. Each cell has a Base-Station (BS),
which provides the service to the Mobile Terminals (MTs), i.e. users equipped with phones, within its region.
Before a mobile user can communicate with other user(s) in the network, a group of the frequency bands or
channels should usually be assigned. The MTs is free to move across cells. When the mobile user crossing a cell
boundary or by deterioration in quality of the signal in the current channel, handoff process is initiated. The
scope of this project is to design 802.11 handoff schemes to solve the handoff problems in closely-spaced
WLANs.The major problem in multiple WLANs are so many users trying to use same access point(AP), and
interferences from nearby WLAN. The better hand off scheme based on signal strength and velocity of the
nodes is proposed. The simulation results show that the proposed handoff scheme significantly reduces packet
losses compared with existing handoff schemes.
Keywords—Handoff, mobile radio mobility management, wireless local area network (WLAN).
I. INTRODUCTION
Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN) has
experienced tremendous growth in the last ten years
with the proliferation of IEEE 802.11 devices. In the
following century, radio communication and radar
proved to be invaluable to the military, which
included the development of spread spectrum
technology. WLANs use high-frequency radio waves
rather than wires to communicate between nodes.
These networks provide a very fast data speed
compared with the data rates of mobile
telecommunications technology, and their range is
very limited. Wi-Fi is the most widespread and
popular example of WLAN technology.
One of the challenges in network management is
to establish connection between end to end
heterogeneous wireless technologies. To provide
such end-to-end connection between heterogeneous
networks we need to perform handoff. Handoff is the
process of changing the channel associated with the
current connection, while a call is in progress, to the
neighboring cell in order to provide uninterrupted
service to the mobile subscriber.The IEEE 802.11
standard specifies IEEE 802.11 handoff operation
with three procedures namely scanning,
authentication and, reassociation. The scanning
mobile terminal (MT) may choose the best
appropriate APs for its handoff. The authentication
and reassociation procedures are used for validation
and connection establishment for the mobile terminal.
We propose a velocity based handoff scheme in
multiple wireless local area network. In our proposed
method MT will choose the AP based on the signal
strength of the AP and velocity of the node
movement. Each APs propagates its coverage range,
initially we set a threshold value for better handoff.
When the RSSI drops below the threshold value, it
will scan the best AP for handoff. Threshold value is
generated by signal strength and velocity of the MT.
The MT makes the handoff decision according to
signal quality, which can be measured by the RSSI
(Received signal strength indicator).
This paper is organised as follows. In Section II,
we discuss the previous work with an overview of
scanning. In Section III, we discuss handoff
operation .In Section IV, we propose a velocity based
handoff operation and provide experimental results.
Finally, we conclude in Section V.
II. PREVIOUS WORK
Handoff schemes can be categorized into
prioritized handoff and non-prioritized handoff
schemes. In non-prioritized schemes, handoff calls
and new calls are served equally. When the BS has an
idle channel, it is assigned due to first-come first-
serve basis regardless of whether the call is new of
handoff. Since, no priority is given to a handoff
request over a new call, the CDP(Call Droping
Probability) is increased. All available channels in
the BS are shared by handoff and new calls. This
RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN
ACCESS

scheme results in high channel utilization. The
Complete Sharing (CS) and Complete Partitioning
(CP) policies are used as NPS. This policy can lead to
waste capacity if the load offered by a traffic stream
drops below its allocated capacity. On the other hand,
prioritized schemes ought to minimize both the CDP
(Call Dropping Probability) and CBP (Call Blocking
Probability) by giving the priority to handoff calls
over new calls in some way. Most handoff
prioritization schemes have the same mechanism:
lowering the CDP while increasing CBP due to the
quality of service (QoS) perspective, new call would
rather being denied than terminating of ongoing call.
With respect to scanning process performed in
mobile terminal, active or passive scanning is defined.
During passive scanning the mobile terminals should
receive access point’s beacon frames, which is
transmitted every beacon interval. A beacon interval
is typically 100 ms. On the contrary, a mobile
terminal with active scanning should broadcast probe
request frame in a channel and wait for the probe
response frame. The probe response frame is sent by
the nearby access points to the mobile terminal on
receiving the probe request frame. The mobile station
performs scanning process in all available channels.
Thus, the scanning time increases in proportion to the
number of available channels and introduces packet
loss and latency.
III. III.HANDOFF OPERATION
A seamless handoff is defined as a handoff
scheme that maintains the connectivity of all
applications on the mobile device when handoff
occurs. The two goals of seamless handoff are low
latencies and few packet losses.Handoff can be
classified based on several factors, like the type of
the network, the involved network elements or the
number of active connections and the type of traffic
that the network supports. Classification of handoff
is explained as follows,
A. Network Types Involved
This is the most common classification factor.
Handoffs can be classified as either horizontal or
vertical. This depends on whether a handoff takes
place between a single type of network interface and
a variety of different network interfaces.
i)Vertical handoff:
Mobile terminal can be handovered to access
points those supporting different network
technologies. For example, the changeover of signal
transmission from WiMax base station to LTE
network is considered a vertical handoff process.
ii) Horizontal handoff:
Mobile terminal hand overed between access
points supporting the same network technology. For
example, the changeover of signal transmission
between same type of network i.e. WiMax-to-WiMax
base station is considered as a horizontal handoff
process.
B. Number of Connections Involved
i) Hard handoff:
In a hard handoff, the radio link to the old base
station is released at the same time a radio link to the
new base station is established. In other words, using
hard handoff, a mobile node is allowed to maintain a
connection with only one base station at any given
time.
FIGURE 1:HANDOFF TYPES
ii) Soft handoff:
A mobile node maintains a radio connection with
no less than two base stations in an overlapping
handoff region and does not release any of the signals
until it drops below a specified threshold value. Soft
handoffs are possible in situations where the mobile
node is moving between cells operating on the same
frequency.
iii) Softer handoff:
A softer handoff is very similar to a soft handoff,
except the mobile terminal switches connections over
radio links that belong to the same access point.
Handoff process is initiated when the mobile
terminal moves away from the serving base station
to the target base station. The handoff process
consists of the following stages-
Cell selection, handoff decision, hand off
initiation, make connection to target cell, mobile
terminal authorization, termination with the serving
cell. At first, the mobile terminal performs cell
selection by scanning for all the neighbouring access
points. The access point with strong signal strength is
selected for hand off by the mobile terminal.

FIGURE 2:HANDOFF PROCESS
The handoff decision and initiation process
denotes the beginning of handoff process. During
handoff decision stage , the mobile terminal decides
whether a handoff is necessary or not. If handoff is
required then the handoff initiation stage will
request the neighboring access point with strong
signal strength to serve the mobile terminal. In the
case where handoff is not required the mobile
terminal continues in the serving base station. Then
connection to the target base station or access point
is made by the mobile terminal. Next step is to
terminate the connection of the serving base station.
Before terminating the connection to the serving base
station the mobile terminal should receive a
authorization from the target base station. A good
handoff should minimize handoff delay and reduce
wireless channel resource wastes.
IV. PROPOSED HANDOFF SYSTEM
Wi-Fi and WLAN is based on IEEE 802.11
standard. Wi-Fi typically provides local network
access for around a few hundred feet with speeds of
up to 54 Mbps. Wi-Fi is intended for LAN
applications, users scale from one to tens with one
subscriber for each CPE device. Fixed channel sizes
(20MHz). The 802.11 standards focus on the bottom
two levels the ISO model, the physical layer and link
layer. Any LAN application, network operating
system, protocol, including TCP/IP and Novell
NetWare, will run on an 802.11-compliant WLAN as
easily as they run over ethernet.
802.11
FIGURE 3.IEEE 802.11 and OSI Model
The major motivation and benefit from Wireless
LANs is increased mobility. Untethered from
conventional network connections, network users can
move about almost without restriction and access
LANs from nearly anywhere. The other advantages
for WLAN include cost-effective network setup for
hard-to-wire locations such as older buildings and
solid-wall structures and reduced cost of ownership-
particularly in dynamic environments requiring
frequent modifications, thanks to minimal wiring and
installation costs per device and user. WLANs
liberate users from dependence on hard-wired access
to the network backbone, giving them anytime,
anywhere network access.
We propose a velocity based handoff scheme in
multiple wireless local area network. In our proposed
method mobile terminal will choose the access point
based on the signal strength of the AP and velocity of
the node movement. Each APs propagates its
coverage range, initially we set a threshold value for
better handoff. When the received signal strength
indicator (RSSI) drops below the threshold value, it
will scan the best AP for handoff. Threshold value
generated by signal strength of the APs. The MT
makes the handoff decision according to signal
quality, which can be measured by theRSSI(Received
signal strength indicator).
RSSI< THhandoff (1)
The THhandover represents the handoff
threshold. Handoff procedures are initiated when the
RSSI drops below the Thhandover . Also, handoff is
executed only if there is another AP for which the
RSSI is at least the minimum signal level. We know
that when the MS moves in a high velocity, the
CELL SELECTION
HANDOFF DECISION
HANDOFF INITIATION
MAKE CONNECTION
MT AUTHORIZATION
TERMINATING
CONNECTION WITH THE
SERVING BS
APPLICATION
PRESENTATION
SESSION
TRANSPORT
NETWORK
DATA/LINK
PHYSICAL
TCP
IP

network channel information will change frequently,
so that some unnecessary stages must be performed,
which makes severe degradation in system
performance such as handoff delay and network
resource waste. To overcome this we set two
threshold values – one threshold is set for nodes
moving with higher velocity and another for nodes
moving with lower velocity. If the Thhandover is set
higher, the frequency of handoff initiated will be
higher, thus the network channel information can be
acquired quickly. If the Thhandover is set lower, the
handoff frequency becomes lower and the wireless
channel resource is consumed less. Velocity or speed
of the MN is given by,
v= D0 /t (2)
D0 is the diameter of the serving cell and t is the time
taken by the MT to remain connected with AP/BS.
t= D0/v (3)
t= 2 R/v (4)
R is the radius of the serving cell. The
architecture of proposed system consists of angle
analyzer, position analyzer ,signal strength analyzer,
a threshold generator and handoff comparator within
the mobile station. The angle and position analyzer
periodically updates the position of the mobile node
within the cell to the serving AP. The threshold
generator generate a threshold value based on the
velocity and RSSI of the mobile node. The handoff
comparator compares the threshold value and selects
appropriate AP for handoff.
FIGURE 4: ARCHITECTURE DIAGRAM
The simulation is performed using the network
simulator 2 (NS2) tool and the language used for
simulation is tool command language (TCL) at front
end and c++ at the backend. For simulation purpose
we create ten nodes with four access points. The
simulation results show that the proposed system has
reduced packet loss than the existing system and
throughput of proposed system has increased
substantially.
FIGURE 5: SIMULATION RESULT
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we proposed an optimized handoff
scheme based on the speed of an mobile node in
wireless networks. We proposed two thresholds on
the speed of mobile node. The mobile node checks its
speed against the predefined threshold and according
to its current speed it selects the appropriate network.
A Wi Fi network cannot be used for fast mobile node
movement, because of its smaller coverage area and
frequent handover problem. The proposed scheme
outperforms the existing scheme by reducing the
packet loss.
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Enhanced Seamless Handoff Using Multiple Access Points in Wireless Local Area Network

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