An Overview of IEEE 802.21: Media independent Handover Services

In recent years multi-technology-enabled terminals have become available. Such multimode terminals pose new challenges to mobility management. In order to address some of these challenges, the IEEE is currently working on a new specification on Media-Independent Handover services (IEEE 802.21 MIH). The main aim of this specification is to improve user experience of mobile terminals by enabling handovers between heterogeneous technologies while optimizing session continuity. In this paper, the authors provide an overview of the current status of the IEEE 802.21 specification.