A link layer assisted fast handoff scheme using the alternative path approach

Mobile IP is a popular referenced mobile wireless protocol that provides the rules for mobile node to roam between networks. Although many researches have been proposed for mobile IP related development, the disruption network supporting time called handoff latency is still a challenging problem for roaming. In this paper, we state a link layer assisted fast handoff scheme using the alternative path (LLA-AP) approach to improve performance of roaming in the wireless mobile network. In the proposed LLA-AP scheme: (i) signal strength information, i.e., link layer (L2) information, is provided to measure the better path decision and (ii) multiple interfaces are equipped with each mobile node to switch to the better path in advance. For the performance analysis aspect, we also construct a practical testing environment to verify the effectiveness of our proposed LLA-AP scheme.