A cross-layer parallel handover optimization scheme for WiMAX networks

The handover performance plays a crucial role in guaranteeing the quality of real-time applications in WiMAX networks. In general, a handover process can be divided into four stages: i) cell reselection, ii) handover preparation, iii) link layer handover, and iv) IP layer handover. A cross-layer parallel handover optimization (CPHO) scheme is proposed in this paper to reduce the handover signaling overhead and latency in each stage. The key idea of our proposed scheme is that uses the knowledge achieved from the backhaul inter-BS communications to reduce the HO control message load in wireless links and overlaps the executions of the link layer and the network layer handover process. Therefore the mean of the handover interruption time can be significantly reduced. The numerical analysis and simulation results show that the proposed approach significantly enhances the handover performance.