A novel media independent handover‐based approach for vertical handover over heterogeneous wireless networks

The key purpose for seamless mobility and service continuity between heterogeneous wireless networks is the handover. Vertical handover management is one of key challenges in such environment. To deal with some of these challenges, an IEEE 802.21 media independent handover (MIH) framework has been standardized. The main purpose of this standard is to offer a general interface for the handover by abstracting the link layer intelligence to higher layers. However, there still exist a number of limitations in MIH architecture. In this paper, a new architecture of improved MIH is presented to perform vertical handover between wireless heterogeneous networks. We focused on interworking architecture between wireless local area network and long term evolution advanced network with the use of MIH signaling to define an efficient vertical handover. A performance analysis model for the proposed MIH‐based vertical handover is derived. Analysis results show that the proposed method can be easily deployed in present multimedia service networks. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于MIH的WLAN/WiMAX宏移动性研究

下一代无线网络将是异构IP网络,为了提供无缝切换服务,结合IETF提议的移动IPv6(MIPv6)协议与IEEE802.21工作组提出介质独立切换(MIH)标准,设计出一种基于MIH异构网络宏移动性的垂直切换方案。在NS-2仿真环境中,验证了此方案的可用性,详细分析了网络切换时延和丢包率,并根据分析结果提出进一步研究方向。     

Handover management in integrated WLAN and mobile WiMAX networks [recent advances and evolution of WLAN and WMAN standards]

Recently there has been much effort, in both academia and industry, to integrate a plethora of wireless technologies in order to provide ubiquitous broadband access to mobile users. Handover management is still one of the most challenging issues to be solved for seamless integration of wireless networks. This article addresses the integration of IEEE 802.11 WLANs and IEEE 802.16 WMANs, focusing mainly on the handover management aspects. First, we describe architectures, futuristic application scenarios such as the envisioned heterogeneous multihop wireless networks (HMWNs) and moving networks, as well as the related research issues. Second, we present IEEE 802.21, a new emerging standard aimed at providing a framework for media-independent handover (MIH) among heterogeneous networks. Finally, we discuss how the MIH framework can help handover management for the integrated network.     

Intelligent Technique for Seamless Vertical Handover in Vehicular Networks

Seamless mobility is a challenging issue in the area of research of vehicular networks that are supportive of various applications dealing with the intelligent transportation system (ITS). The conventional mobility management plans for the Internet and the mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is unable to address the needs of the vehicular network and there is severe performance degradation because of the vehicular networks’ unique characters such as high mobility. Thus, vehicular networks require seamless mobility designs that especially developed for them. This research provides an intelligent algorithm in providing seamless mobility using the media independent handover, MIH (IEEE 802.21), over heterogeneous networks with different access technologies such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), as well as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) for improving the quality of service (QoS) of the mobile services in the vehicular networks. The proposed algorithm is a hybrid model which merges the biogeography-based optimization or BBO with the Markov chain. The findings of this research show that our method within the given scenario can meet the requirements of the application as well as the preferences of the users.     

WiMAX跨层切换技术的研究与仿真

介绍了在移动WiMAX网络中引入IP层移动性管理协议FMIPv6来支持以全IP网络为核心网的语音、视频等多媒体实时业务,并将它与IEEE802.21工作组提出的草案MIH(Media Independent Handover)相结合,设计出一种跨层切换方案,并通过NS-2仿真工具对网络间的切换时延和丢包率进行仿真分析和比较,验证了方案的可用性和良好性能.     

An overview of IEEE 802.21: media-independent handover services

In recent years multitechnology-enabled terminals have become available. Such multimode terminals pose new challenges to mobility management. In order to address some of these challenges, the IEEE is currently working on a new specification on media-independent handover services (IEEE 802.21 MIH). The main aim of this specification is to improve user experience of mobile terminals by enabling handovers between heterogeneous technologies while optimizing session continuity. In this article we provide an overview of the current status of the IEEE 802.21 specification.     

A forward fast media independent handover control scheme for Proxy Mobile IPv6 (FFMIH-PMIPv6) over heterogeneous wireless mobile network

Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) is a networked-based handover protocol for the IP layer, i.e., the layer 3 mobility management protocol. In this work, we integrate fast handover and IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover (MIH) Services with PMIPv6 to improve the handover performance over the heterogeneous wireless network environment. Since it may have multiple candidate destination networks to which a Mobile Node can select for handover, it needs to consider not only the signal strength but also the corresponding networking situation for the proper selection of the next network. To reduce the packet loss situation, the multicast mechanism is adopted to forward packets to these candidate destination networks during the handover processing period. In this work, a Forward Fast Media Independent Handover Control Scheme for Proxy Mobile IPv6 (FFMIH-PMIPv6) is proposed based on the aforementioned concerns. Through the simulations for performance analysis, it shows that the proposed FFMIH-PMIPv6 can have better handover performance in terms of handover latency, packet loss rate and throughput.     

A terminal‐controlled vertical handover decision scheme in IEEE 802.21‐enabled heterogeneous wireless networks

The seamless internetworking among heterogeneous networks is in great demand to provide ‘always‐on’ connectivity services with quality of service (QoS) provision, anywhere at anytime. The integration of wireless‐fidelity (Wi‐Fi) and wireless metropolitan area networks (WiMAX) networks can combine their best features to provide ubiquitous access, while mediating the weakness of both networks. While it is challenging to obtain optimized handover decision‐based dynamic QoS information, users can improve their perceived QoS by using the terminal‐controlled handover decision in a single device equipped with multiple radio interfaces. The IEEE 802.21 aims at providing a framework that defines media‐independent handover (MIH) mechanism that supports seamless handover across heterogeneous networks. In this paper, an multiple attributes decision making‐based terminal‐controlled vertical handover decision scheme using MIH services is proposed in the integrated Wi‐Fi and WiMAX networks to provide ‘always‐on’ connectivity QoS services. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme provides smaller handover times and lower dropping rate than the RSS‐based and cost function‐based vertical handover schemes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Media-independent handover for seamless service provision in heterogeneous networks

The performance of current Internet applications is based mainly on the capabilities of the underlying network technologies. Modern access systems usually can satisfy delay, loss, or bandwidth requirements; however, design inconsistencies can lead to service degradation as the terminals move across different systems. In this article, the focal point is the satisfaction of service requirements during mobility and more specifically, how the emerging IEEE 802.21 standard enables seamless, inter-technology handover. Based on prior work and a well-known example of seamless mobility, the main seamless mobility principles are identified and used as the basis for further evaluating the potential of the IEEE 802.21 standard to meet the requirements of applications for minimum disruption during an inter-technology handover.     

Simultaneous handover scheme for IEEE 802.11 WLANs with IEEE 802.21 triggers

Handover performance in wireless networks is important, especially nowadays, when multimedia services are becoming increasingly available over the wireless devices. However, users expect uncompromised mobility when using the service. Thus, the support of multimedia services is not possible if handover is inefficient. At the same time it is clear that a strict separation between IP Layer and the Link Layer results in built-in sources of delay. The paper discusses the IEEE 802.11 and Mobile IPv4 handover performance in practical scenarios. We introduce a new simultaneous handover scheme with IEEE 802.21 triggers. In order to verify the handover performance, simulation experiments have been conducted, whose results are also presented and discussed.     

IEEE 802.21: Media independent handover: Features, applicability, and realization

Providing users of multi-interface devices the ability to roam between different access networks is becoming a key requirement for service providers. The availability of multiple mobile broadband access technologies, together with the increasing use of real-time multimedia applications, is creating strong demand for handover solutions that can seamlessly and securely transition user sessions across different access technologies. A key challenge to meeting this growing demand is to ensure handover performance, measured in terms of latency and loss. In addition, handover solutions must allow service providers, application providers, and other entities to implement handover policies based on a variety of operational and business requirements. Therefore, standards are required that can facilitate seamless handover between such heterogeneous access networks and that can work with multiple mobility management mechanisms. The IEEE 802.21 standard addresses this problem space by providing a media-independent framework and associated services to enable seamless handover between heterogeneous access technologies. In this article, we discuss how the IEEE 802.21 standard framework and services are addressing the challenges of seamless mobility for multi-interface devices. In addition, we describe and discuss design considerations for a proof-of-concept IEEE 802.21 implementation and share practical insights into how this standard can optimize handover performance.     

An enhanced radio resource management based MIH policies in heterogeneous wireless networks

The require of omnipresent wireless access and high data rate services are expected to increase extensively in the near future. In this context, heterogeneous networks, which are a mixture of different wireless technologies (LTE-advanced, LTE-advanced Pro, C-IoT (Cellular Internet of Thing), 5G WiFi, etc) are invited to enable important capabilities, such as high data rates, low latencies and efficient resource utilization in order to provide dedicated capacity to offices, homes, and urban hotspots. Mixing these technologies in the same system, with their complementary characteristics, to afford a complete coverage to users can cause various challenges such as seamless handover, resource management and call admission control. This article proposes a general radio resource management framework which can be supported by future network architectures. A combined call admission control, resource reservation algorithm and bandwidth adaptation based IEEE 802.21 MIH standard approach for heterogeneous wireless network is detailed in this framework. Our aims are to guarantee quality of service (QoS) requirements of all accepted calls, reduce new call blocking probability and handover call dropping probability, and maintain efficient resource utilization. Performance analysis shows that our proposed approach best guarantees QoS requirements.     

SIP-based IEEE802.21 media independent handover — a BT Intel collaboration

In this paper, we look at various mobility management protocols and handover frameworks in use in BT. We also report on the results from a collaborative proof of concept mixed network prototype for a seamless handover system using Intel’s early implementation of the IEEE802.21 media-independent handover standard. The paper reports the design, implementation and deployment issues/options of a handover mechanism using the Intel framework which includes a connection manager and mixed network IEEE802.21 adaptation layer together with BT’s SIP-based audio/video application in a heterogeneous Wi-Fi, WiMAX and Ethernet network environment.     

垂直交换管理的集合架构

Recent advances in hardware technology have made it possible for mobile devices to interface with multiple networks of different types. In this paper, an IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover (MIH) based handover management architecture containing four modules is proposed and the multihoming technology is adopted to achieve Make-Before-Break vertical handover. Then the paper presents the performance analysis of the architecture and simulation in ns-2. The results substantiate the effi cacy of the architecture in improving the handover performance signifi cantly compared with the traditional Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) based vertical handover. Besides, we design and implement this handover management architecture in our test-bed. The experimental results in a real network environment show that our proposed architecture can not only support the Make-before-break handover, but also guarantee the scalability because of the modulized design.     

使用IEEE 802.21的WLAN与WiMAX网的融合与切换

为了给移动用户提供最好的无所不在的无线宽带接入,不同无线网的融合是当前通信领域的热点研究。而切换管理又是解决无线网无缝融合的最具挑战性的问题。文中讨论了IEEE 802.11WLAN与IEEE 802.16e移动WiMAX网的融合与切换管理。描述其结构和应用场景,介绍了IEEE802.21,它为介质独立的异类网切换提供了一个信令框架,提出了如何使用IEEE802.21解决WLAN与移动WiMAX网之间的切换,并给出了详细的切换过程。说明了使用IEEE 802.21解决WLAN与移动WiMAX网之间的切换是可行有效的。     

Seamless service provision for multi heterogeneous access - seamless content delivery in the future mobile internet

The key enabling function for seamless mobility and service continuity among a variety of wireless access technologies is the handover. Handovers within the same radio system are addressed by the standardization bodies involved in the development of the corresponding technologies (e.g., 3GPP, 3GPP2, IEEE, DVB), while handovers between heterogeneous systems are managed by protocols developed by the IETF. However, the interoperability between radio access systems that is required to realize the vision of Beyond 3G calls for coordinated actions and integrated solutions combining individual strengths. This article reviews emerging protocols and architectures aiming to support intersystem handovers between nextgeneration wireless systems and presents an optimized handover framework built around the functionality introduced by the IEEE 802.21 standard. Mapping of this framework to the entities of the 3GPP evolved system architecture is discussed and handover procedures involving key entities of this architecture are presented.     

Mobility Management in WLAN-Based Virtualized Networks

Traditional network architectures are about to reach the limits of sustainable development for future service innovation and growth. To overcome the limitation of current architectures and efficiently redesign the future network architecture, a new technology called “network virtualization” is under development. In particular, wireless network virtualization is expected to become an emerging architectural choice to support concurrent heterogeneous services with finer controls over quality of service (QoS) features on the shared wireless network. We note that mobility management has a great influence on user-perceived QoS due to the service disruption during a handover process, and one of the main advantages of wireless network virtualization is to allow for finer-grained control of mobility policy. Although there have been several studies on wireless network virtualization, they focus on virtualizing the radio resources and the network devices. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a detailed protocol to support seamless mobility using the virtualization approach in the IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. We analyze the performance of the proposed mobility management scheme in terms of the handover latency and the signaling overhead. Analytical and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can significantly reduce handover latency with reasonable signaling cost compared to proxy mobile IP (PMIP) and fast handover for PMIP (FPMIP) in the traditional network.     

A QoE handover architecture for converged heterogeneous wireless networks

The convergence of real-time multimedia applications, the increasing coverage of heterogeneous wireless networks and the ever-growing popularity of mobile devices are leading to an era of mobile human-centric multimedia services. In this scenario, heterogeneous communications will co-exist and ensure that the end-user is always best connected. The rigorous networking demands of wireless multimedia systems, beyond quality-oriented control strategies, are necessary to guarantee the best user experience over time. Therefore, the Quality of Experience (QoE) support, especially for 2D or 3D videos in multi-operator environments, remains a significant challenge and is crucial for the success of multimedia systems. This paper proposes a QoE Handover Architecture for Converged Heterogeneous Wireless Networks, called QoEHand. QoEHand extends the Media Independent Handover (MIH)/IEEE 802.21 with QoE-awareness, seamless mobility and video adaptation by integrating a set of QoE-based decision-making modules into MIH, namely a video quality estimator, a dynamic class of service mapping and content adaptation schemes. The QoEHand video estimator, mapping and adaptation components operate by coordinating information about video characteristics, available wireless resources in IEEE 802.11e and IEEE 802.16e service classes, and QoE-aware human experience. The video quality estimator works without the need for any decoding, which saves time and minimises processing overheads. Simulations were carried out to show the benefits of QoEHand and its impact on user perception by using objective and subjective QoE metrics.     

Mobility using IEEE 802.21 in a heterogeneous IEEE 802.16/802.11-based, IMT-advanced (4g) network

Industry is defining a new generation of mobile wireless technologies, called in cellular terminology "fourth generation" or "4G." This article shows that a system combining extensions of two radio access technologies, IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.16, meets the ITU-R's "IMT-Advanced" or 4G requirements. The extensions are 802.16 m (100 Mb/s, 250 km/h) and 802.11VHT (1 Gb/s, low velocity). The focus of this article is to show how IEEE 802.21 (the emerging IEEE standard for media-independent handover services) supports ";seamless"; mobility between these two radio access technologies. This mobility integrates the two radio access technologies into one system. We conclude that an 802.11VHT + 802.16 m + 802.21 system is likely to be proposed to the ITU-R for IMT- Advanced 4G.