A Cross-Layer Partner-Assisted Handoff Scheme for Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 in IEEE 802.16e Systems

In this paper, a new approach is proposed to reduce handoff operation in IEEE 802.16e network. Traditional mobile approaches, such as mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) and hierarchical MIPv6 (HMIPv6), can support smoothly handoff. These approach, ,unfortunately, suffer large handoff delay and packet lost in macro mobility for mobile users. With the aid of the partner node, DAD operation can be pre-executed by the partner node before the mobile node initialize the handoff request, we propose a cross-layer partner based fast handoff mechanism based on HMIPv6 in IEEE 802.16e network, called as P_HMIPv6 protocol. The P_HMIPv6 protocol is a cross-layer, layer 2 and layer 3, approach. The partner station (PS), which is a new component with relay ability and adopted by our protocol, is a static mobile station (MS). With the aid of the PSs, care-of address (CoA) can be pre-acquired and DAD operation can be pre-executed by the PS before the MS initials the layer 2 handoff. The simulation results show that P_HMIPv6 protocol actually achieves the performance improvements in the handoff delay time and the packet loss.