Macro- and micro-mobility handoffs in Mobile IP based MBWA networks

It is expected that mobile wireless Internet access will become prevalent and there is a need for integrated micro- and macro-mobility management solutions for such access. This paper is a study of macro- and micro-mobility in Mobile IP based systems, specifically mobile broadband wireless access systems. Currently, a mobile version of the broadband wireless access technology standard IEEE 802.16e is being developed. This standard is seen as a direct competition to the mobile services offered by wireless operators. Mobile broadband wireless access (BWA) networks, also known as mobile wireless MAN are a threat since the fixed version of this technology is inexpensive and easy to deploy. This paper focuses on solutions that meet requirements for micro- and macro-mobility management in Mobile IP based systems as well as those for Mobile BWA systems. A new proposed solution is investigated to assess its performance for mobile BWA networks. Modelling and simulation of a Mobile BWA network using OPNET to validate the proposed solution as well as to evaluate its performance against conventional solutions are done. The overall handoff latency of the new scheme for inter-domain handoffs is 128.16 msec. This provides at least a 53% improvement in handoff latency relative to other Mobile IPv6 schemes. The new scheme is also compared with the HAWAII scheme and the simulated performance provides a 11% improvement in handoff latency for the new scheme.