Design and Implementation of an Inter-cell Management System:
Fahd Albinali · 2002
Wireless networks based on IEEE 802.11 are becoming increasingly widely deployed. However, 802.11 systems fail to make optimal use of the available network resources because of a lack of coordination between different system components, in particular, the absence of any form of coordination between access points and mobile nodes. Consequently, wireless network installations may not make optimal allocation of mobile nodes to access points, leading to imbalances in the load distribution and potentially reducing the network bandwidth available to users. This thesis presents the Sabino system: a lightweight management architecture that coordinates the actions of access points and mobile nodes to ensure, where possible, a more balanced load distribution and hence better utilization of system resources. Sabino as an architectural solution is applicable for many other applications and future wireless deployments in which mobile nodes have different Quality-of-Service requirements and are serviced by different network technologies. Key aspects of the Sabino system include easy and incremental deployment, flexible architectural topology, minimal overhead and effective management of resources. This thesis presents evidence of some of the problems in existing 802.11 systems and it describes the design, the implementation and the evaluation of the Sabino system as an effective solution to these problems.