LLHS: Low Latency Handoff Scheme based on Buffering for Mobile Networks

Mobility support for mobile networks will be important to minimize the packet overhead, to optimize routing, to reduce handoff latency, and to reduce the volume of handoff signals. Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) and Hierarchical MIPv6 (HMIPv6) are one of mobility management protocols (MMPs) that provides network layer mobility over all access technologies. However, the communication quality of these candidates is severely degraded during handoffs. As another way to improve the handoff performance of a mobile network by conventional MMPs such as MIPv6 and HMIPv6, we propose a Low Latency Handoff Scheme (LLHS) combining Fast MIPv6 (FMIPv6) with HMIPv6 extension with buffering function, in which Mobility Anchor Points (MAPs) buffer packets destined to the Mobile Routers (MRs) or MNs within a mobile network during handoffs. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme reduces transmission delay and packet loss in UDP communication.