System and method to provide fast mobility in a residential Wi-Fi network environment

1. A method comprising:

subscribing, by a server, a plurality of Wi-Fi access points belonging to a same mobility domain to a key distribution service;

generating, by the server, a neighbor relation table (NRT) for the plurality of Wi-Fi access points, wherein the NRT includes an R1 key holder identity (R1KH-ID) and a mobility domain identifier (MDID) for Wi-Fi access points of the plurality of access points that neighbor each other, wherein a given Wi-Fi access point is identified as neighboring a different Wi-Fi access point in the NRT when the given Wi-Fi access point is identified as a handover target for handover of a given user equipment from the different Wi-Fi access point to the given Wi-Fi access point;

receiving, at the server, a request from a user equipment to connect to a first Wi-Fi access point of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points belonging to the same mobility domain;

querying, by the server, the NRT with a given MDID associated with the first Wi-Fi Access point in the NRT;

determining, by the server, that the NRT includes the given MDID in association with a second Wi-Fi access point of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points belonging to the same mobility domain that neighbors the first Wi-Fi access point; and

distributing, by the server, keying parameters to the second Wi-Fi access point.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the keying parameters are associated with 802.11r pairwise master key (PMK) keying parameters.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the PMK keying parameters include one or more of:

a PMK-R1 key; and

an S1 key holder identity (S1KH-ID) for the user equipment.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subscribing is performed using at least one of:

Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service (RADIUS) messaging;

Diameter messaging;

Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) messaging; and

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messaging.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subscribing further comprises:

communicating a subscription request message from each of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points to an 802.11r authenticator; and

communicating a subscription response message from the 802.11r authenticator to each of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the 802.11r authenticator is a 3rd Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) element.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein, for each respective Wi-Fi access point of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points, a respective subscription request message for a respective Wi-Fi access point comprises:

a basic service set identifier (BSSID) for the respective Wi-Fi access point;

a particular MDID for the mobility domain to which respective Wi-Fi access point belongs; and

an a particular R1KH-ID of the respective Wi-Fi access point.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining an activity state for the user equipment;

determining the one or more second Wi-Fi access points that neighbor the first Wi-Fi access point based on an NRT associated with the first Wi-Fi access point;

generating the keying parameters based on an R1KH-ID for each of the one or more second Wi-Fi access points; and

distributing the keying parameters to the one or more second Wi-Fi access points using the NRT associated with the first Wi-Fi access point.

9. A non-transitory memory element that stores program instructions that when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising:

subscribing to a key distribution service by a plurality of Wi-Fi access points belonging to a same mobility domain;

generating one or more neighbor relation tables (NRTs) for the plurality of Wi-Fi access points, wherein each NRT includes an R1 key holder identity (R1KH-ID) and a mobility domain identifier (MDID) for neighboring Wi-Fi access points of the plurality of access points that are deployed such that User Equipments are enabled to handover communications between the neighboring Wi-Fi access points;

receiving a request from a user equipment to connect to a first Wi-Fi access point of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points belonging to the same mobility domain;

querying the one or more NRTs with a given MDID associated with the first Wi-Fi access point;

determining a second Wi-Fi access point of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points that neighbors the first Wi-Fi access point included in the one or more NRTs as associated with the given MDID; and

distributing keying parameters to the second Wi-Fi access point.

10. The memory element of claim 9 , wherein the keying parameters are associated with 802.11r pairwise master key (PMK) keying parameters.

11. The memory element of claim 10 , wherein the PMK keying parameters include one or more of:

a PMK-RI key; and

an S1 key holder identity (SIKH-ID) for the user equipment.

12. The memory element of claim 9 , wherein the subscribing is performed using at least one of:

Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service (RADIUS) messaging;

Diameter messaging;

Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) messaging; and

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messaging.

13. The memory element of claim 9 , wherein the subscribing further comprises:

communicating a subscription request message from each of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points to an 802.11r authenticator; and

communicating a subscription response message from the 802.11r authenticator to each of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points.

14. The memory element of claim 13 , wherein, for each respective Wi-Fi access point of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points, a respective subscription request message for a respective Wi-Fi access point comprises:

a basic service set identifier (BSSID) for the respective Wi-Fi access point;

a particular MDID for the mobility domain to which respective Wi-Fi access point belongs; and

a particular R1KH-ID of the respective Wi-Fi access point.

15. The memory element of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:

determining an activity state for the user equipment;

determining the one or more second Wi-Fi access points that neighbor the first Wi-Fi access point based on an NRT associated with the first Wi-Fi access point;

generating the keying parameters based on an R1KH-ID for each of the one or more second Wi-Fi access points; and

distributing the keying parameters to the one or more second Wi-Fi access points using the NRT associated with the first Wi-Fi access point.

16. A system comprising:

a memory element for storing data; and

a processor to execute instructions associated with the data that, when executed, the system is configured to:

subscribe to a key distribution service by a plurality of Wi-Fi access points belonging to a same mobility domain;

receive a request from a user equipment to connect to a first Wi-Fi access point of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points belonging to the same mobility domain;

generate a neighbor relation table (NRT) for the plurality of Wi-Fi access points, wherein the NRT includes an R1 key holder identity (R1KH-ID) and a mobility domain identifier (MDID) for neighboring Wi-Fi access points of the plurality of access points, wherein the neighboring Wi-Fi access points are configured to enable handover of the User Equipment between the neighboring Wi-Fi access points;

determine a second Wi-Fi access point of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points belonging to the same mobility domain that neighbors the first Wi-Fi access point, based at least in part on the NRT including the given MDID in association with the second Wi-Fi access point; and

distribute keying parameters to the second Wi-Fi access point.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the keying parameters are associated with 802.11r pairwise master key (PMK) keying parameters.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the PMK keying parameters include one or more of:

a PMK-R1 key; and

an S1 key holder identity (S1 KH-ID) for the user equipment.