Media Independent Handover in heterogeneous multi-hop mobile networks

In next generation wireless systems, achieving seamless service continuity when transitioning between heterogeneous networks is a challenging task. An approach to optimize these handover procedures through the introduction of a standardized framework is followed by the IEEE 802.21 working group. The Media Independent Handover (MIH) function of IEEE 802.21 is mainly designed for "client-network" scenarios and not applicable to multi-hop connectivity models. In this paper, we propose an extended MIH model for accommodating multi-hop mode of operation in heterogeneous mobile networks. Our objective is to effectively use the services and the messages associated to the framework, so as to enhance the scope of MIH functionality and contrastingly, enable multi-hop heterogeneous networking in personal ubiquitous environments.