MIPv6-Based Power Saving Scheme in Integrated WLAN and Cellular Networks

Abstract

In the integrated Wireless LAN (WLAN) and cellular networks, power efficiency is one of the most important aspects as in existing wireless networks. Especially, we note that in the idle state, a mobile device with dual interfaces needs to receive periodic beacons from the access point and downlink control information from the base station, resulting in significant power consumption. To save the power, we propose a power saving scheme with Hibernation mode to completely turn off the WLAN interface during the idle state, instead of entering Power Save (PS) mode and turn it on only when there is a need to receive data. However, if the WLAN interface is turned on even for a momentary traffic, it must repeat turning on and off continuously, dissipating power. Thus, we also develop a Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6)-based signaling to turn on the WLAN interface for long-lived traffic. It is shown via simulations that the proposed power saving scheme results in better power efficiency.