Fast and reliable target base station selection scheme for Mobile WiMAX handover

This paper proposes a serving base station (SBS)-controlled fast target base station (TBS) selection scheme for Mobile WiMAX networks. Utilizing the novel principle of orientation matching (OM) between the geographical position of each NBS and the MS´ direction of motion, both with respect to the SBS, and the signal strengths of the different neighboring base stations (NBS) as received by the mobile station (MS), the SBS selects the TBS out of the shortlisted NBSs. Such fast selection of TBS, in turn, results in fast hard handovers (HHO) in Mobile WiMAX as the overall handover (HO) delay is much reduced. Use of two independent criteria, namely OM and the received signal strengths (RSS), makes the selection of TBS a reliable one. Simulation studies are presented that validate the efficacy and reliability of the proposed scheme.