Fast PMIPv6 Multicast Handover Procedure for Mobility-Unaware Mobile Nodes

As IP multicast allows the efficient use of network bandwidth for multipoint communication, it is expected to be an essential communication type for delivering multimedia services to mobile nodes (MNs). In this paper, we review current status of PMIPv6 multicast listener support being standardized in the IETF and point out limitations of the current approach. Then, we introduce a fast multicast handover procedure for a PMIPv6 environment wherein network-based mobility management is deployed for mobility-unaware MNs. The introduced fast PMIPv6 multicast handover procedure optimizes multicast group management by utilizing the context of mobility-unaware MNs. We evaluate the proposed multicast handover procedure compared to the base one through the developed analytical models and confirm that introduced fast PMIPv6 multicast handover procedure provides the reduced service interruption time compared to the based one during handovers.