IEEE 802.21 MIH-enabled evolved packet system architecture

Abstract

The main motivation of IMT-Advanced is to enable the mobile users with capacity to handle high data rates and low delay services such as high quality video and online gaming. Two technologies are competing in this field: LTE-Advanced and Mobile WiMAX. Following the Always Best Connected (ABC) paradigm, the integration of these two technologies with legacy ones is imminent. The Evolved Packet Core (EPC) is the 3GPP new core network which aims to integrate 3GPP and non-3GPP access networks through an All-IP core network. The IEEE 802.21 standard is another important contribution, optimizing vertical handovers, by providing a common framework between the data link and network layers. Although the 3GPP has already defined optimized vertical mobility procedures, these are dependent on the technology, and much effort is needed in order to achieve the so desired seamless mobility. In our work, we propose a new mobility architecture and several enhancements on handover signaling to provide seamless mobility between IMT-Advanced candidates and legacy wireless technologies. We further compare our proposed mobility framework with current approaches, showing the advantages of the integrated approach. © 2012 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.