A cross‐layer partner‐assisted handoff scheme for hierarchical mobile IPv6 in IEEE 802.16e systems

Abstract

AbstractThe design of the seamless handoff is the key issue in the next‐generation mobile networks. A new broadband wireless access, called WiMAX, has been specified in the IEEE 802.16e standard document, to provide the high bandwidth and the large coverage area than the IEEE 802.11‐based wireless networks. In the IP‐based mobile network, mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) protocol provides the binding update message to update the mobile station's IP information for supporting the layer 3 mobility. Hierarchical mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6) protocol is proposed by employing a hierarchical network structure to reduce handoff latency. HMIPv6 protocol suffers the long handoff delay and the high packet lost in the macro mobility. This paper presents a new cross‐layer partner‐assisted handoff mechanism based on HMIPv6, termed as P_HMIPv6 protocol. The P_HMIPv6 protocol is a cross‐layer approach by the combination of layer 2 and layer 3. The partner station (PS) is a new component with relay ability and adopted by our protocol. With the assistance of the PS, care‐of address (CoA) is pre‐acquired and DAD operation is pre‐executed by the PS before the MS initiates the layer 2 handoff. The simulation results show that P_HMIPv6 protocol actually achieves the performance improvements in handoff delay time, packet loss rate, and handoff delay jitter. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.