A proxy mobile IP based layer-3 handover scheme for mobile WiMAX based wireless mesh networks

In this paper, we present a proxy mobile IP based layer-3 handover scheme for mobile WiMAX based wireless mesh networks. Mobile WiMAX provides two types of layer-3 handover schemes: MIP based handover and PMIP based handover. MIP based handover incures the long handover latency because mobile nodes generate a lot of handover messages in wireless area. On the other hand, PMIP based handover decreases the handover latency by reducing the number of handover messages, because a mobile node does not participate in handover procedure. However, conventional PMIP based handover still has latency overhead, because of message exchanges between PBU and PBA after completing the layer-2 handover. Hence, we propose a new layer-3 handover method that does not bring about packet losses while achieving lower handover latency than conventional layer-3 handover scheme. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves loss-free and low handover latency during the layer-3 handover.