Design, mobility management and analysis of a hybrid WiMAX/satellite network

In this paper we propose a hybrid radio access network architecture that aims to connect remote areas to broadband networks. The proposed architecture consists in a WiMAX network for final users which hence can be connected to the internet backbone. In the other hand the WiMAX base stations are connected via the satellite to the wired network to circumvent mobility and long distance issues. To allow routing optimisation and mobility support, mobility management protocols were applied in a hierarchical architecture with a macro and micro handover functions. Performance analysis is given to study the interest of such radio access network.