IEEE 802.21 and Proxy Mobile IPv6: A network controlled mobility solution

Abstract

IP Mobility has been deeply investigated in the past years and standardization bodies (e.g., IETF, 3GPP and IEEE) have specified a wide suite of protocols enabling seamless mobility across heterogeneous wireless access technologies. However, such mobility helping technologies are not yet widely spread as compared to other emerging technologies like WiFi hotspots. This paper aims at filling this gap between research and real deployments by specifying and implementing a scheme for mobility support in wireless heterogeneous environments. In our solution, mobility management is achieved via the Proxy Mobile IPv6 protocol while optimized handover control is provided by the integration of the IEEE 802.21 framework with Proxy Mobile IPv6. The paper also includes the performance evaluation of the proposed platform, shows results obtained through live experiments on the field.