Fast Client-Based Connection Recovery for Soft WLAN-to-Cellular Vertical Handoff

Wireless local area network (WLAN)-to-cellular vertical handoff (VHO) involves time-consuming procedures that may significantly disrupt real-time communication. When a soft handoff is anchored by an enterprise private branch exchange (PBX)/gateway, handoff execution can take several seconds due to the time required to establish the cellular-to-PBX call leg. This situation is compounded by the fact that WLAN coverage may sometimes be lost far sooner than a VHO can be triggered and executed. In this paper, we propose and investigate the use of a VHO Support Node (VHSN) which is attached locally to the wired LAN hotspot infrastructure. When WLAN coverage is lost, the VHSN improves soft-handoff performance by quickly intercepting and redirecting the media flow through the local cellular base station using its cellular end-station attachment. This action can quickly recover the connection before the new cellular call leg is established. Unlike proxy forwarding, wireless multihop, and other infrastructure-modification schemes, the VHSN does not extend wireless coverage or perform infrastructure-based packet forwarding. Instead, the VHSN functions as both an (Ethernet) LAN and a cellular end station. Results will be presented which show the performance improvements that are possible using the proposed mechanism.