Research On Mobile IP Smooth Handoff Technology

The mobile communication technology is one of the most active and developing fields. It has deep influence on human being and the society in the 21 century. We are now in the period of 2.5Generation of mobile communication technology. Because of the designed limits of the network, the 2G and 2.5G mobile communication couldn't support high data flow and real multimedia servers but the 3G and 4G in the future could support those servers and then become the focus of the mobile communication technology. The mobile IP handoff technology is one of the most important technologies in the 3G and 4G.Mobile IP (MIP) which is a part of IP protocol with the purpose of dealing with the mobility of the nodes in the Internet is a new router mechanism and protocol made by Internet Engineer Task Force (IETF). It makes the Internet support the mobile computer function that keep the real voice, data or multimedia communication without reset and renew the IP parameter of the communication nodes when it's location changed. But the MIP technology still has some questions such as triangle routing, fast handoff and QoS.The paper has researched fast handoff technology of MIP, and simulates the network of MIP using OPNET. The following aspects are discussed in detail:1. The basic theory of MIP including the net topology and the handoff schemes of MIP.2. Researches the technologies about MIP handoff and finds out their excellences and disadvantages, and then concludes a new smooth handoff scheme which is a development of the layered foreign agent network.3. We used the popular network simulation tool—OPNET Modeler—to simulate the process of MIP handoff and put a layered MIP simulation to compare. Then we introduce the method and process to set up a simulation using OPNET. The debug method of simulation is also included.