PA-FMIP: a Mobility Prediction Assisted Fast Handover Protocol

This paper introduces a prediction assisted fast handover protocol (PA-FMIP) that integrates a mobility prediction algorithm into a fast reactive handover scheme. A simple data mining approach is used to implement the prediction algorithm based solely on the user´s mobility history between wireless IP subnets. Through simulation, the accuracy of the algorithm is evaluated over a city section of West University Area in Texas by a single user traveling with vehicular mobility. The optimal prediction parameters are found for an average accuracy of 92.5%. The handover performance of the PA-FMIP scheme is compared to MIPv6, proactive FMIPv6, reactive FMIPv6 and simultaneous bindings. Simulation results show a 43% decrease in handover packet loss over reactive FMIPv6 and an improvement in TCP throughput. The overhead incurred as a result of the packet forwarding is 50% less than that of Neighbor Casting in the same scenario