Real-life multipath TCP based make-before-break vertical handover

The emerging of the new technologies results in the situation that the User Equipment (UE) may use multiple interfaces to access the network with multiple technologies, which can be summarized as multihoming in a heterogeneous network. In order to promote the widespread deployment of the UEs, mobile operators should consider the mobility management in the network. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standardized the Evolved Packet System (EPS) which among others promotes network based mobility management based on Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) protocol. Multipath TCP provides the ability to simultaneously use multiple paths between peers. This paper examines the use of Multipath TCP as a part of EPS to enable make-before-break vertical handovers. An Android based implementation and performance measurement in a real network environment are presented. The implementation show MPTCP suitability for vertical handovers but certain implementation challenges have to be taken into account. Finally, energy efficiency tradeoff in real-life multipath communication is made visible.