Ricardo Silva, Paulo Carvalho, Pedro Sousa, Pedro Neves*
<>PT INovação, S.A.*Tel.: +351 253 604436
Fax.: +351 253 604471
E-mail: pmc at di.uminho.pt
The fast growing of mobile Internet users with the ability of using
a wide diversity of access technologies such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX and
UMTS/LTE, and the increasing proliferation of mobile devices with
heterogeneous network interfaces, require versatile mobility mechanisms
providing seamless roaming across those access technologies. Mobility
agents such as Mobile IP and Fast MIPv6 are common, however, these
solutions still have limitations when dealing with multiple link-layer
technology. In this context, the emerging standard IEEE 802.21 provides
a framework which enables mobile agents and network operators to
improve the handover process in heterogeneous networks. This paper
debates and presents a case study of heterogeneous mobility on an
Android device, using the IEEE 802.21 framework. Resorting to an
experimental testbed, including a modified Android user terminal, the
obtained results show that the proposed solution is a first step to
successfully accomplish seamless mobility of Android-based devices
operating on 3G and Wi-Fi networks.