A Preamble Design Technique for Efficient Handover in IEEE 802.16 OFDM-Based Mobile Mesh Networks

In this paper, a hierarchical design concept of a preamble for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based mobile mesh networks (MMNs) is proposed to reduce the handover overhead by distinguishing an intercluster handover event from an intracluster handover event at the physical layer. The handover procedure using the proposed preamble can simplify the scanning procedure and skip/simplify the network entry procedure, resulting in a significant reduction of the handover overhead. The performance of the handover procedure using the proposed preamble is evaluated using the parameters in the IEEE 802.16 mesh mode.