Improving vertical handovers using IEEE 802.21 services and multicast addressing

The use of multi-interface devices has grown at the same time as the demands for efficient mobility services in heterogeneous networks. In this scenario, service continuity has become a crucial requirement. In order to achieve these demands, efficient handover schemes should be deployed, aiming the Seamless Handover. However, handover delay and packet loss are still issues to be solved. The main purpose of this paper is to present an improvement for Vertical Handovers using IP mobility, aiming Seamless Handover. In this work, the framework provided by IEEE 802.21 is used to enable handover in heterogeneous networks. Besides, a FMIPv6 extension called FaHMA is proposed in order to efficiently manage mobility in these networks. Simulation results have shown that FaHMA achieves better results than FMIPv6 in the evaluated scenarios.