A predictive handoff scheme for multi-hop heterogeneous wireless networks

Maintaining seamless end-to-end connectivity is a challenge in multi-hop networks because of frequent topology changes due to user mobility. In this article, we propose a predictive handoff scheme to minimize the packet loss during handoff and also the number of handoffs in a multi-hop heterogeneous wireless network. A new approach is proposed to estimate the connection stability of a node and initiate the handoff process before the existing connection terminates. The concept of group connectivity is also proposed to reduce the number of handoffs in multi-hop networks due to the mobility of intermediate relay mobile stations.