Roaming
These clauses make the roam a bounded, measured event on the production client, because the client decides when and how it roams.
The client decides when and how to roam, so these clauses bind the vehicle radio as much as the network. They set a roam limit inside the outage budget, require fast roaming that both sides support, and accept only measurements taken on the production client under the production security settings.
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2.1 A worst-case roam limit inside the budget shall
The longest roam on any production route shall not exceed [Worst-case roam limit] ms, measured from the last data frame on the old access point to the first data frame on the new one. That limit shall sit inside the [Outage budget] ms outage budget with room left for retries.
2.2 Measured on the production client shall
Roam performance shall be demonstrated on the production radio, driver, and firmware of [Vehicle or machine], under the production security configuration. Figures measured on laptops, test clients, or a different security mode shall not be accepted.1
2.3 Fast roaming that both sides support shall
Every SSID that carries control traffic shall use a fast roaming method that each client model on it supports for the key management in use, 802.11r fast transition where available, otherwise OKC or PMK caching, so that no roam repeats a full 802.1X exchange. The vendor shall list, per client model and key type, the methods each one supports.2
2.4 One mobility domain along each route shall
Every access point a vehicle route crosses shall advertise the same mobility domain, with key holder configuration that lets each one reach the others, and roaming shall be tested across every boundary between access point groups, controllers, or sites that a route crosses.
2.5 Neighbor reports on, access point scanning controlled shall
SSIDs that carry control traffic shall send 802.11k neighbor reports where the clients support them. Off-channel scanning by access points that serve time-sensitive clients shall be disabled, or deferred while prioritized traffic is present, and any scanning that remains shall be counted against the outage budget.2
2.6 No steering on control SSIDs shall
Band steering, load balancing, and network-initiated low-signal disconnects shall be disabled on SSIDs that carry control traffic, unless a feature has been tested with every client model on the SSID and accepted in writing by the owner.
About this page
Built from 12 sources: 1 research paper or thesis, 10 vendor documents and 1 other source. Researched and drafted with AI assistance, then reviewed and approved by Ben Rutter on . How pages are made
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Cite this page
Plain
Ben Rutter. "Roaming." OT Wireless, published October 6, 2026, updated October 5, 2026. https://otwireless.com/clauses/roaming/
APA 7
Rutter, B. (2026, October 6). Roaming. OT Wireless. https://otwireless.com/clauses/roaming/
BibTeX
@misc{rutter2026roaming,
author = {Rutter, Ben},
title = {{Roaming}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://otwireless.com/clauses/roaming/}},
organization = {OT Wireless},
}