A multilayered hybrid architecture to support vertical handover between IEEE802.11 and UMTS

Abstract

Telecommunications advances have created the need for a high speed, ubiquitous network capable of catering for diverse application domains. This Next Generation or 4G network can be achieved through the interworking of several existing architectures to form a seamless global network. An important issue involved in interworking is vertical handover.This paper reviews mobility protocols, Mobile IP and the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and compares their ability to implement vertical handovers. A multilayere, hybrid architecture is proposed and described, which incorporates both SIP and Mobile IP. A Mobile IP framework is introduced and evaluated, based on its ability to implement vertical handover.