Ad hoc cooperative vertical handover for next-generation heterogeneous networks

We propose a new vertical handover scheme that uses cooperative ad hoc nodes, instead of interworking via backhaul, for the fast handover of mobile nodes (MN) in next-generation heterogeneous network environments. An MN requiring a vertical handover requests an adjacent ad hoc node to undertake some of the handover procedures that require latency, such as authentication and registration procedures, and to process them in place of the requested MN before the handover completion. A vertical handover procedure that uses this takeover technique is described in detail and its performance is analyzed by investigating the success probability of takeover. The results confirm that the proposed vertical handover scheme using takeover reduces both connection disruption time and packet loss compared with conventional vertical handover schemes without takeover.