SROAM: an end-to-end service model for improved performance in roaming over wireless LAN networks

Nowadays mobile devices enable users to have various ways to surf on the Internet and broadband communication channels facilitate applications of online multimedia. Most network real-time multimedia applications run on TCP/IP protocol stack. Although several protocols are proposed to handle mobility management on the network layer, real-time stream transmission still suffers from severe roaming interruption and hence playback performance is worsened. The paper analyzes the roaming delay and transmission throughput in detail and evaluates the effect of multiple elements constituting the whole roaming delay. A service codenamed Swift Roaming System (SROAM) is proposed to reduce the roaming delay and increase the average transmission throughput. Some initial experiment results are provided to support the effectiveness of the methods proposed in the system.