Proactive Route Optimization for Fast Mobile IPv6

The Fast Handovers for Mobile IPv6 (FMIPv6) protocol was developed from the experience of MIPv6 and the facilities provided by link layer triggers, allowing for a proactive approach to handover that minimises packet exchange delay and packet loss. After handover, the mobile node may carry out Return Routability with the correspondent node(s) for route optimization. However, this method leaves scope to optimize handover delays derived from the signalling message exchange. This paper proposes an enhancement to FMIPv6, the Proactive Route Optimization for FMIPv6 (PRO-FMIPv6) protocol, which significantly reduces the signalling and thereby improves the overall performance of the handover process. Simulation results suggest a delay reduction up to 50% over other current proposals: the FMIPv6 protocol, Enhanced Route Optimization and Proactive Bindings for FMIPv6.