Local and Global Handovers Based on In-Band Signaling in Wireless ATM Networks

Abstract

This paper presents a handover protocol for wireless ATM networks, which makes use of in-band signaling, i.e., of ATM resource management cells, to process network handovers and guarantee the in-sequence and loss-free delivery of the ATMcells containing user data. The goal of the proposed approach is to minimize the modifications of the ATM signaling standard required to overlay user mobility onto the fixed network infrastructure, and provide for a gradual upgrade of the fixed network to handle mobility. The proposed protocol handles both local handovers, in which the connection access point needs not migrate to a new ATM local exchange, and global handovers, in which the connection access point must migrate to a new local exchange. The handover scheme is devised so as to grant in-sequence delivery of cells. The performance of the network during handover is analyzed in case of connections requiring loss-free operation. The considered performance figures are the cell transmission delay introduced by the handover and the cell buffering requirements posed to the network. The behavior of the proposed protocol in presence of multiple handovers is studied via simulation, while a simple analytical method is derived for the performance evaluation of a single handover in isolation.