Seamless Handover between CDMA2000 and 802.11 WLAN using mSCTP

Abstract

With the deployment of 3G networks and gradual implementation of wireless networks, seamless handover between these wireless networks is becoming an increasingly desirable. mSCTP (Mobile Stream Control Transmission Protocol) is a new protocol developed from SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol) to provide seamless handover based on IP networks. This thesis studies how to use this new protocol to handle handovers on transport level between CDMA2000 and WLAN networks. A survey of recently proposed and used mobility protocols is presented, comparing three common handover protocols operating on different layers: MIP (mobile IP) for the network layer, mSCTP for the transport layer and SIP (Session Initial Protocol) for the session layer. The results show mSCTP is the future for mobility support. Lastly, I will present a detailed procedure on how to set up handover testbed between CDMA2000 network and 802.11 WLAN based on mSCTP and the results show that the handover performed between these two networks is fast and smooth but it is affected by the signal strength of the CDMA2000.