Handovers in wireless ATM networks: in-band signaling protocols and performance analysis

The first part of this paper presents a novel scheme for handover provisioning in wireless asynchronous transfer mode (W-ATM) networks based on in-band signaling. First, the network architecture and principles of in-band signaling are described, discussing advantages and interaction with other procedures and signaling techniques. Then, loss-free protocols for the handover procedures are presented and compared with existing proposals. The second part of the paper is devoted to performance analysis of the handover procedures. A general methodology for evaluating handover delays and required buffer capacity is introduced and exemplified for one of the protocols introduced before. Numerical results give insight into the handover procedure characteristics and are compared with estimates provided by detailed discrete event simulations for validation purposes. Finally, additional simulation results are presented for parallel, concurrent handovers, evaluating the requirements posed to the network by different handover procedures.