Handover Performance Evaluation in WiFi/WiMax Networks using M-SIP

One of the most challenging issues in wireless and mobile networks is vertical handover when users roam between different access networks. In this paper a new approach named Mobile-SIP (M-SIP) is proposed for WiFi/WiMax handover in application layer. It introduces an excellent charging method during handover to support mobile operator environment and also a better solution to avoid the stale address situation. We have developed a prototype model using java sip and the handover characteristics of M-SIP are studied. The results reveal that the proposed WiFi/WiMax vertical handover performs well and fulfill our aims, but have some limitations in packet loss and handover latency. Hence further works are carried out to reduce packet loss and achieve low latencies.