November 2005

doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Proposal for Load Balancing

Date:2005-11-04 Authors:
Name
Emily H. Qi Jesse Walker Marian Rudolf Joe Kwak Joe Epstein

Company
Intel Corporation Intel Corporation InterDigital Communications InterDigital Communications Meru Networks

Address
2111 N.E 25th Ave. Hillsboro, OR 97124 2111 N.E 25th Ave. Hillsboro, OR 97124 Montreal, QC 482 Degas Bolingbrook, IL 60440 1309 S Mary Ave, Sunnyvale CA

Phone
503-264-7799 503-712-1849 514-904-6258 630-739-4159 408-215-5345

email
Emily.h.qi@intel.com jesse.walker@intel.com Marian.Rudolf@InterDigital.com joekwak@sbcglobal.net jepstein@merunetworks.com

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Submission

Slide 1

Emily Qi et al

November 2005

doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Abstract
This document contains an outline of the normative text proposal for Load Balancing (doc#: 11-05/1064r0) in support of AP Load Balancing protocol to improve wireless network throughput and QoS effectiveness in accordance with REQ2030.

Submission

Slide 2

Emily Qi et al

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doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Agenda
Design Goals Procedure and Usages Proposed Frame Formats Proposed Information Element Open items

Submission

Slide 3

Emily Qi et al

November 2005

doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Design Goals
Define a protocol to support AP and STA cooperative load balancing to improve wireless network throughput and QoS effectiveness for VoIP and Video stream Allow STA and AP to exchange the information needed to enable a network to manage BSS loads by
influencing STA roaming decisions, and initiating STA handover to selected target BSS(s).

The protocol can be extended to other Roaming Managements The provisions for Roaming Management and load balancing do not apply to an IBSS

Submission

Slide 4

Emily Qi et al

November 2005

doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Proposed Roaming Management Frames

Roaming Candidate List IE TGv Action Frames Class 3
Roaming Management Query
Optional, non-AP STA AP

Roaming Management Request

Mandatory, AP non-AP STA

Roaming Management Response

Optional, non-AP STAAP

Reassociation Response and Admission Control Response

The Roaming Candidate List element may be present if dot11WirelessNetworkManagementEnabled is true

Submission

Slide 5

Emily Qi et al

November 2005

doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Procedure and Usages

AP
An AP may send a Roaming Management Request frame to any STA at any time, or respond to a Roaming Management Query frame from any STA

Roaming Management Query (optional)

STAx

Roaming Management Request

STA considers network load balancing preferences, control level, exclusivity and evaluates current quality of roaming options. STA selects target BSS for the planned handover.

Roaming Management Response (optional)

STA begins planned handover using TGr protocol or reassociation

Handover to new BSS Initiated Disassociation (optional) Submission Slide 6 Emily Qi et al

November 2005

doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Roaming Management Query

If a STA wishes to solicit network information for roaming, the STA may send a Roaming Management Query frame to the serving AP Possible Roaming Query Reasons are:
Low throughput Unacceptable delay/jitter Loss of signal in current BSS (link going down), etc.

Category Octets: 1

Action 1

Dialog Token 1

Roaming Query Reason 1

Figure v4 Roaming Management Query frame body format

Submission Slide 7 Emily Qi et al

November 2005

doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Roaming Management Request

An AP can send a Roaming Management Request frame to any STA at any time, or respond to a Roaming Management Query frame from any STA Request mode: Control Level bit and Exclusivity bit
Control Level bit: 1 = Must do; 0 = Suggestion Exclusivity bit: 1 = STA shall select a target AP only from the Roaming Candidate List ; 0 = STA may select a target AP not present in the Roaming Candidate List.

Category

Action

Dialog Token 1

Request mode 1

Disassociation Timer (optional) 1

Expiry Timer

Roaming Candidate List variable

Octets

Figure v5 Roaming Management Request frame body format

Submission Slide 8 Emily Qi et al

November 2005

doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Proposed Roaming Candidate List IE

Zero or more entries, one for each roaming candidate

Element ID
Octets: 1

Length
1

Roaming Candidate List

Variable

Figure v1 Roaming Candidate List element format

BSSID Octets: 6

Preference 1

Channel Number (optional) 1

Regulatory Class (optional) 1

PHY Type (optional) 1

Load Information (optional) 6

BSSID Information (optional) 2

Figure v2 Roaming Candidate List Entry format

Submission Slide 9 Emily Qi et al

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doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Roaming Management Response

A STA receiving a Roaming Management Request frame may respond with a Roaming Management Response frame Status Code:
Zero =Accept; non-zero = reject reason.

Target BSSID
Shall be the target BSSID that STA decided to roam to if status code is 0. Shall be Null if Status is non-zero

Category Octets: 1

Action 1

Dialog Token 1

Status code 1

Target BSSID (Optional) 6

Figure v7 Roaming Management Response frame body format

Submission

Slide 10

Emily Qi et al

November 2005

doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Open Items
Should the proposed solution also be extended to Class 1 frames, i.e. before STA-AP Authentication/Association occurs ?
For example, should the Roaming Candidate list be included in Association Response and/or Probe Response Messages ?

Submission

Slide 11

Emily Qi et al

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doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Motion
The substantive text proposal for Load Balancing (doc#: 11-05/1064r0) that addresses objective #2030 is worthy of inclusion in the TGv base draft

Yes (merge): No: Abstain:

Submission

Slide 12

Emily Qi et al

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doc.: IEEE 802.11-05/1065r1

Feedback?

Submission

Slide 13

Emily Qi et al