Cross Layer Design of Handoffs in IEEE 802.16e Network

Abstract

In this paper we consider the efficiency of handoff procedure in 802.16e environment. Our goal is to re-construct the handoff process by the cross layer design of existing handoff procedures specified in 802.16e MAC layer and mobile IPv6 (MIPv6). By using the cross layer design, the handoff procedure of layer 3 can be interleaved with that of layer 2. And the handoffs of layer 2 and layer 3 can be more coincident. In addition to studying the handoff latency affected by the frame duration of 802.16e and connection dropping rate caused by handoff, the proposed scheme was compared with a scheme proposed for IETF draft. The simulation results show that our scheme is superior to the other scheme.