Two University of California San Diego scientists have developed a better way of seamlessly handing off 802.11 roaming, making it possible for people from one hotspot to another without dropping connections. That’s important not so much for data, which can handle a dropped packet here and there, but for streaming audio, video, and voice-over-IP.
The SyncScan solution proposed by Savage and Ramani is a method to continuously monitor the proximity of nearby 802.11 access points. Instead of looking for surrounding access points just when the current signal is running low, a Wi-Fi device with SyncScan regularly checks signal strengths nearby — but only for very short periods of time. These times are picked to precisely coincide with regularly scheduled “beacon” messages sent by all standard Wi-Fi access points. The process eliminates the current need to start from scratch when looking for a stronger signal, and replaces the long scanning delay with many small delays that are imperceptible to the user.
Faster handoff between Wi-Fi networks promises near-seamless 802.11 roaming [EurekAlert]
