A Fast Seamless Handoff Scheme between IEEE 802.11 and EPS Networks Using Optimized Proxy Mobile IPv6

Evolved Packet System (EPS) presents the EPS evolution of the 3G/UMTS standard introduced by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard committee. Interworking issues between EPS and IEEE 802.11 networks will become a new challenging problem. In this paper, we propose a fast seamless handoff scheme using a optimized PMIPv6 between IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) and EPS networks, without modifying 3GPP standard network architecture, which guarantees fast and low packet loss handover. The proposed scheme performs access authentication process before layer-3 (L3) handoff and layer-2 (L2) handoff to reduce handover latency. Moreover, it uses packet buffering and forwarding mechanisms to reduce packet loss during the handoff period. The analysis results show that the proposed scheme performs well in the handoff latency, the packet loss and the signaling overhead compared with conventional schemes.