Mobility Using IEEE 802.21 in a Heterogeneous IEEE 802.16/802.11-Based, IMT-Advanced (4G) Network

Industry is defining a new generation of mobile wireless technologies, called in cellular terminology "Fourth Generation" or "4G." This paper shows that a system combining extensions of two radio access technologies, IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.16, meets the ITU-R's "IMTAdvanced" or 4G requirements. The extensions are 802.16m (100 Mb/s, 250 km/h) and 802.11VHT (1 Gb/s, low velocity). The focus of this paper is to show how IEEE 802.21 (the emerging IEEE standard for media-independent handover services) supports "Seamless" mobility between these two radio access technologies. This mobility integrates the two radio access technologies into one system. The authors conclude that an 802.11VHT + 802.16m + 802.21 system is likely to be proposed to the ITU-R for IMTAdvanced 4G.