Mobile WiMAX Handover Performance Evaluation

We present a novel WiMAX simulation model called WISMU developed for the ns-2 network simulator. We shortly introduce its features and then study the performance of different kind of handover technologies in terms of throughput and network re-entry time. Our results show that by using association and HO optimizations via BS-to-BS signaling the network reentry time can be significantly shortened. However, the throughput analysis shows that association has only small effect on throughput; the Mobile IP tunnel establishment was found to be the major contributor. One interesting future work scenario is to speed up the MIP registration and tunnel establishment by using cross layer triggering.