Reactive Handover Optimization in IPv6-Based Mobile Networks

In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in the need to support moving hosts and moving networks in IPv6-based mobile networks. As the number of such hosts and networks grows, so will the demand for delay sensitive real-time applications, such as voice over IP (VoIP), that require seamless handover. Two well-known approaches to reduce the handover latency have been proposed in the literature: proactive and reactive approaches. While proactive handover is known to generally outperform reactive handover, its reliability and practicality are still questionable since it basically depends on predictive information which may be unreliable in some cases. In this paper, based on the standard specification for IPv6 mobility support, we analyze the existing movement detection and address configuration procedures which are the main components of reactive handover approach. We also propose a novel reactive handover procedure which employs our optimized movement detection and address configuration schemes. The proposal is simple and robust because it does not need any predictive information and it requires a minimum number of signaling messages. The performance evaluation shows that the proposal substantially reduces the signaling load on wireless/wired networks and its handover latency is reduced enough to support seamless services.