Extending End-to-End QoS to WiFi based WLAN

requirements on the network traffic compared to the traditional interactive and background applications. IEEE standard 802.11e addresses these QoS requirements in a WiFi based WLAN. It provides enhancements to the MAC layer protocol for supporting both prioritized and parameterized traffic between a QSTA and a QAP. To address the end-to-end QoS needs, the link level QoS supported by 802.11e standard should be used in conjunction with existing end-to-end QoS mechanisms such as RSVP and SIP/SDP. Here we propose a mechanism to extend the end-toend QoS into the WiFi based WLAN. Wireless LANs have become ubiquitous, and are being used to access multi-media services. Earlier wireless standards 802.11a/b/g do not provide any mechanism to guarantee Quality of Service (QoS) in a wireless network. IEEE adopted 802.11e about a year ago. This enhancement makes it possible to prioritize traffic, but to get real value out of this, we need to have end-to-end solutions in place. This white paper examines this problem and proposes some solutions.