A handover protocol and network architecture for wireless extensions of ATM networks

ATM protocols are connection oriented and migration of a mobile computer can therefore require rerouting of ATM connections while minimizing violation of Quality of Service specified for these connections. This implies that the handover process needs to be performed with small delay, minimal cell loss and no change in cell sequence. The problem is magnified by the fact that high-speed networks such as ATM will often deliver services to real time multimedia applications, such as video and audio, which have stringent Quality of Service requirements. In this paper, we describe a handover protocol that preprocesses partial connections for cells incurring long handover delays. In this protocol, cells are clustered and the clusters are divided into crust and core cells which are handled differently during handovers. The protocol minimizes the degradation of Quality of Service during handovers.