Handover supporting QoS in MPLS-based hierarchical mobile IPv6 networks

This paper proposes a handover scheme supporting QoS in MPLS-based hierarchical mobile IPv6 network that is designed to meet seamless handover requirements. The proposed scheme takes advantages of hierarchical mobile IPv6 that uses hierarchical network structure to localize registration in one domain, uses multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) under IP layer to provide a fast packet forwarding, and uses the idea in fast handover protocol that decouples layer 2 with layer 3 handover to reduce handover latency. Our scheme can give a fast and smooth handover to support various real-time applications in future mobile networks. To further reduce packet loss during handover, we also consider two approaches: (i) setting up a cache at the new access router and (ii) bicasting. The handover procedure is described in this paper and the performance evaluation is presented by simulation results.