Seamless handover in 802.11 with Automatic Power Save Delivery

Abstract

Energy efficiency, mobility and Quality of Service (QoS) are areas where cellular networks implement more sophisticated solutions than 802.11 wireless LANs. The WLAN specifications contain enhanced and coordinated access control mechanisms that can be used to support power saving and QoS, but these are rarely used since the benefits compared to the basic MAC are usually not perceived as sufficient to motivate the complexity. In this paper we are proposing further improvements for energy efficient mobility with preserved QoS, building on top of the existing mechanisms for coordinated access. Simulation results show that both energy consumption and QoS can be improved, which adds further benefits from deployment of power saving mechanisms and QoS solutions in 802.11.