Dynamic media independent information server

The proliferation of the Internet and wireless access technologies introduced the constant mobile paradigm, where users want to be always connected making use of the best available networks and technologies. Although the IEEE 802.21 framework is able to improve the handover process independent from the access technology, it only supports an information server with static information storage. It is clear that in today´s and future environments, the dynamicity of the scenarios is very large and that static information about the available networks is not sufficient. In this paper, we develop a new concept of a dynamic information server that is able to store, manage and deliver real-time dynamic information about the available access technologies, such as network topology, load and QoS, which can be used to help the preparation and decision of the handover process. Using this concept, the two different procedures in the handover preparation phase, candidate access technologies discover and resources availability check, can be performed only in one procedure, optimizing the handover process. The results provided through ns-2 simulations show the benefits of supporting such dynamic information server in a seamless mobility procedure optimized by the IEEE 802.21 framework.