Predictive mobile IP handover for vehicular networks

Vehicular networks are a rapidly growing technology with vehicle manufacturers already taking steps for its implementation. However, adding IP services to vehicular networks remains an issue. This is in part due to the mobile IP handover causing overhead and latencies unsuitable for the faster movement of vehicles. Frequent topological changes caused by this movement require smooth IP handovers due to the regularity in which they occur. In this paper, we propose a predictive handover utilizing a movement prediction method to conduct the costly handover ahead of time, thus providing a consistent IP connection. The approach is tested and compared in a variety of simulated vehicle network environments. Results show an overall improvement in network performance with handover latency greatly reduced.