UPTIME: an IMS-based mobility framework for next generation mobile networks

Seamless inter-technology mobility is one of the fundamental requirements of next generation mobile networks. For seamless mobility, handover delay and packet loss should be minimized. However, existing solutions suffer from a number of shortcomings in satisfying these requirements: first, handover preparation schemes fail to minimize the handover delay as much as possible. Second, minimizing packet loss which is usually using soft handover (SHO) schemes are excessively wasteful of scarce resources. In this paper, we propose the uninterrupted proactive connection transfer for IMS mobility enhancement (UPTIME) mobility framework which achieves seamless mobility while minimizing excessive power and radio resource consumption. UPTIME incorporates two mechanisms; a proactive handover preparation method and an optimized SHO technique for handover execution. We demonstrate the benefits of the proposed framework through both analysis and simulation. Our simulation results for typical LTE/WiMAX handovers show that the handover preparation delay can be reduced by 70 %, and good packet loss performance can be achieved whilst saving 43 % of radio resources and 48 % of battery power.