Effect of Layer 2 Connection Setup on SIGMA performance

In our earlier study, we proposed SIGMA, a Seamless IP diversity based Generalized Mobility Architecture. SIGMA utilizes multihoming to achieve a seamless handover of a mobile host, and is designed to solve many of the drawbacks of Mobile IP. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of Layer 2 connection setup on the performance of SIGMA. Various aspects of Layer 2 connection setup are considered such as Layer 2 setup latency, layer 2 beacon period, and mobile host moving speed. Criteria for performance evaluation include handover latency, packet loss, throughput. Our results show that SIGMAhandover latency is insensitive to Layer 2 setup latency and beacon periods. Moreover, SIGMA can achieve a seamless handover if MH’s moving speed is not too high.