A client-based vertical handoff approach for seamless mobility in next generation wireless networks

With the rapid growth of mobile Internet, offering seamless connectivity and high-speed multimedia services in different types of wireless networks are important features in next generation wireless networks (4G networks). Many researchers envision that the 4G networks will consist of many radio access technologies which integrate into all IP-based networks while providing seamless handoffs across the heterogeneous wireless networks. Mobile IP is a prominent solution to handle mobile nodespsila movement in IP-based networks. However, Mobile IP suffers from long handoff latency since it is designed to support the macromobility of a mobile node. Therefore, it is necessary to devise a scheme that offers seamless connectivity during Mobile IP handoffs across the heterogeneous wireless networks. In this paper, we propose a client-based handoff management system for multi-networks to provide end-users with seamless connectivity across heterogeneous wireless networks. Our proposed system is designed as a common network interface at a client side and provides transparent services to IP/MIP layers regardless of used wireless technologies. With this system, we also present vertical handoff performance over a loosely coupled cdma2000/WLAN experimental test-bed. The experimental results show that our system enables a mobile node to handoff seamlessly across different types of wireless networks without any modifications to the existing IP/MIP stack and core network.