Performance Analysis of Vertical Handover using Predictable LGD Event based on IEEE 802.21

Next Generation Wireless Networks (NGWN) aim to provide any service at any time and anywhere with seamless mobility between homogeneous and heterogeneous networks. IEEE defines the IEEE 802.21 standard to facilitate seamless handover, namely, Media Independent Handover (MIH). IEEE 802.21 provides layer two events to upper layers with a view to enhance the operability and enable them to make the right decision on time. Link Going Down (LGD) is a predictive event triggered when a link quality degradation is expected in the near future. Connectivity losses and quality decreases are usually foreseeable during the handover process. Therefore, in this paper, we analyze the performance of our effective prediction model for generating the Link Going Down (LGD) event. The network performance metrics, such as packet loss, end-to-end delay, and throughput, have been evaluated using the Network Simulator NS2.