Proactive Packet Duplication for Wireless Roaming
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wireless LANs face packet loss issues due to user mobility, especially when voice or video traffic is transmitted, as wireless clients roam between access points, degrading the quality of service.
Innovation Solution
Proactively duplicating packets of traffic streams and sending them to potential wireless access points, which store them in proactive stream buffers until the client associates, minimizing packet loss by merging them into transmission queues upon association.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If wireless clients roam between access points during voice or video transmission, then user mobility is enabled, but packet loss occurs degrading service quality
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by proactively duplicating packets to potential target access points before the wireless client actually roams to them. When a client initiates a pre-reservation process or roaming intent event, the source access point sends duplicate packets to potential target access points in advance, which store them in proactive stream buffers. This ensures that if roaming occurs, the target access point already has the packets ready to transmit, preventing packet loss during the transition.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates copies of data packets and sends them to multiple potential target access points simultaneously. Instead of sending original packets only to the current access point, the system duplicates packets and forwards them to potential target access points that the client may roam to. These copies are stored in buffers at the target access points and can be immediately transmitted when the client associates, ensuring continuous packet delivery during roaming without waiting for the original packet transmission to complete.
2Reliability
If duplicate packets are sent to potential access points, then packet loss is reduced, but network bandwidth and processing overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial action by selectively duplicating packets only when specific conditions are met, such as when a wireless client initiates a pre-reservation process or roaming intent event. Instead of duplicating all packets for all clients, the system identifies specific scenarios where roaming is likely to occur and applies packet duplication only in those cases. This reduces unnecessary bandwidth consumption while still providing reliable packet delivery when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies local quality by tailoring the packet duplication behavior to specific clients and specific target access points based on their roaming patterns and network conditions. Each potential target access point receives duplicate packets only for clients that are likely to roam to it, and the duplication is triggered by local events such as pre-reservation processes. This localized approach optimizes bandwidth usage by avoiding unnecessary duplications for clients that won't roam or for access points that aren't potential targets.
Data Source
AI summary
A packet loss reduction system. In particular implementations, a method includes responsive to indications of roaming intent of a wireless client relative to currently associated wireless access point, determining if a traffic stream associated with the wireless client is to be proactively buffered by one or more potential wireless access points; conditionally transmitting a command to the one or more potential wireless access points to cause the potential wireless access points to set up resources to proactively buffer packets of the traffic stream; duplicating received packets of the traffic stream destined for the wireless client; and transmitting the duplicate packets to the potential wireless access points for storage in a proactive stream buffer.