Performance evaluation of TCP variants using Media Independent Handover in heterogeneous network

In order to provide seamless mobility the IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover (MIH) working group is in the process of developing a set of mechanisms to facilitate migration of mobile users between access networks that use different link-layer technologies. Users of different available wireless access networks like WLAN, UMTS, VANETs, Wi-MAX, etc., demand real-time support, high availability and even instantaneous high bandwidth in some cases. Therefore, it is imperative for network service providers to make the best possible use of the combined resources of available heterogeneous networks for connection support. In mobile environment where connections need to migrate between homogeneous and heterogeneous network for performance and high availability reasons, seamless horizontal and vertical handover is a necessary step. In this paper the performance of three different TCP variants namely, TCP Westwood+, TCP NewReno and TCP Vegas, in heterogeneous network using MIH feature is evaluated. The parameters used for performance analysis are throughput, handover latency, packet loss and behaviour of congestion window using ns2 simulator.