stds-802-handoff: Achieving Reliable & Faster IP Handovers in IEEE 802.11 Network - ARelevant IETF Draft ?

[Paul Tan <tanpaul@i2r.a-star.edu.sg>]

Hi all,

I am currently working in the area of fast handoff management in 802.11 
networks, and would like to learn more from this group.

I have earlier submitted an individual Internet Draft (ID) to the IETF 
regarding the above problem.

Basically, the ID proposed a way to achieve faster movement detection 
(MD) when a mobile node moves across several APs which are connected to 
different networks/providers. It also provides some useful neighborhood 
discovery (ND) mechanism such that mobile nodes can handoff to their 
*choice* of networks, based on the *advertised* information of each 
network. These operation (MD & ND) are critical to achieve *seamless* or 
*loss-less* IP handover. The proposal leverage on the underlying 802.11 
control frames such as Beacon frames to carry *Extensible Information 
Elements*. You can read the ID for more details at 
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-paultan-seamless-ipv6-handoff-802-00.txt

Finally, I feel that the ability to embed *critical* L3 information into 
L2 frames can provide some *useful hints/confirmations*, such that to 
allow mobile nodes to perform some *necessary* operation(s) before 
(after?) an upcoming L2 handoff. I hope that this draft can provide some 
useful information to this group, and would also like to hear some 
comment/feedback from the group on the ID.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Cheers,
Paul Tan