Virtualization of wireless LAN infrastructures

In wired Ethernet networks (IEEE 802.3), physical network interfaces can be connected to different network segments or shared among multiple virtual machines. In wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11) sharing wireless network interfaces is recognized to be a difficult task. However, virtualization can solve this problem. In this paper we will introduce a viable solution to deploy virtualized wireless networks by means of open source virtualization techniques. We present the design, implementation, and performance testing of this solution. Results have shown that the proposed solution can support multiple virtualized wireless networks without compromising the performance.