A network-based IP mobility scheme for fast and global handover in cellular networks

New generation of mobile wireless networks utilizes IP mobility protocols to handle handovers between their different subnets. Among existing options, Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) as a network-based protocol presents higher handover performance comparing with its client-based counterparts such as Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) and Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6). Nevertheless, the PMIPv6´s operation is limited to a relatively small domain. This motivated researchers to try to extend PMIPv6 operation beyond its local mobility domain, while preserving its network-based nature. However, the existing globally extended PMIPv6 solutions experience longer handover latency and higher packet loss comparing to the original PMIPv6. This paper suggests a low-latency global PMIPv6 scheme, which creates the mobile node´s binding record inside the target domain before its real attachment to that domain. The proposed scheme takes advantage of link layer events to initiate IP-level handover in parallel with link reconnection process. The analytical and simulation-base evaluations demonstrate the enhanced performance of the proposed scheme concerning to the handover latency and packet loss.