Title: Client-assisted Management in Wireless Networks

Abstract:
Managing networks is a difficult task, whether they be
wirelined or wireless. Traditionally, this task has been 
performed through dedicated infrastructure devices that 
are carefully controlled and administered.
Examples include firewalls, traffic shapers, and
special-purpose gateways. In this talk, we focus on
wireless networks and contend that many management tasks
in this environment are best performed through active
participation of clients. We have demonstrated this 
in our recent work on channel assignment, load balancing,
and efficient handoffs in 802.11 based WLANs.
In this talk we will present solutions to a few of these 
problems, a framework in which these problems can be 
better solved, and a set of broader research activities,
all being conducted in our newly founded Wisconsin
Wireless and NetworkinG Systems (WiNGS) Laboratory.