OPTIMIZING WIMAX HANDOVER PERFORMANCE BY AVOIDING REDUNDANT SCANNING OF NBS

P.P Edwin Winston

Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engg Sathyabama University Chennai, India edwinwinston@yahoo.co.in
AbstractWiMAX technology offers promising features in terms of high bandwidth, extended coverage area and low cost. Handover management deals with the active transfer of wireless terminals from the control of a BS(Base Station) in one cell to the control of another BS in a different cell. One of the primary advantages of MWiMAX (Mobile WiMAX) handover techniques is the provision of both layer 2 (L2) broadcast and scanning concepts during the NTAP (Network Topology Acquisition Phase) by which the MS(Mobile Station) can receive channel signal strength information of its NBSs (Neighbouting Base Station). The MS can scan some of the NBSs as potential TBS (Target Base Station) candidates. However, the HO technique does not clearly say anything regarding the number of NBSs that a MS may need to scan before ultimately deciding on a TBS. This may result in redundant scanning of NBSs leading to unnecessary wastage of channel resources and degrading the overall performance. We propose a novel method based on CINR measurements to reduce the number of NBSs that a MS may need to scan before ultimately deciding on a TBS. We construct a WiMAX Handover architecture to analyse the performance of our proposal and the simulation is done using the advanced Network simulator OPNET MODELER. Keywords-WiMAX; Handover; OPNET Modeler;

Dr.K.S Shaji
Principal RIITW Nagercoil, India shajibritto@yahoo.co.in associated with it in voice communications. A mobile node in one base station when moves towards another base station, It 'breaks its connection with the former and then makes a new connection with the later. This simple looking process however involves a number of message transactions which will be explained subsequently. Soft Handoff on the other hand is a make before make process where a new connection is made before the earlier connection is let off. This ensures smooth connectivity. It involves a network scan and simultaneous connectivity with more than one base station. The issue of mobility is of particular importance in WiMAX because its promised potential of seamless broadband connectivity can only be effective if its available while on the move. Although HHO is the mandated most bandwidthefficient handover technique in MWiMAX, yet such handover activities are crippled by serious problems like excessive scanning activity in a somewhat non-optimized scanning interval before finalizing a TBS and prolonged inter-handover connection gaps. A number of measures have been proposed to simplify scanning related procedures during the topology acquisition phase, to minimize the overall delay and enhance the system performance. The authors of [4]-[5] have proposed unique network topology acquisition schemes to identify the potential TBS before performing any type of scanning-related activities. In [4], the authors argued that, from the MOB NBR-ADV messages, the MS can acquire the preamble-based mean Carrier to Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (CINR) along with the arrival time difference of the downlink signal (relative to the SBS) of the individual NBSs. From that, it can select the TBS to be the one having the largest mean CINR and smallest arrival time difference. Then, the MS performs ranging, synchronization and association activities only with that TBS. Though this scheme reduces the handover delay by skipping unnecessary scanning, it considers neither the MSs direction of motion nor the current load of the selected BS. This might lead to unwanted ping-pong activity as well as call drops. In [5], it is proposed to predict the potential TBS prior to any scanning activity based on the different parameters like MSs movement direction, average time differences between previous handovers, position and distance of NBSs with respect to the SBS and load of the different NBSs. This scheme not

I.

INTRODUCTION

The great demand for multimedia applications, voice and video transfer and fast Internet access, combined with the global proliferation of the wireless devices, has given sprouting for broadband wireless access (BWA) networks. A promising advance of such BWA systems is the IEEE 802.16 standard for fixed and mobile broadband wireless access systems, which provides guidance for physical and medium access control (MAC) between subscriber stations (residential or business customers) and the Internet service provider [13]. In a wireless communication scenario, things become much more complex when a subscriber unit is mobile. Despite the limitations Mobility has its obvious advantages and hence a lot of research has gone into developing networks supporting mobility. Major element introducing complexity in mobility is the need for hand offs. Broadly two types of handoff's are described: Hard handoff and Soft handoff. Hard handoff involves a breakbefore-make type of process and a click is generally

only reduces the scanning-oriented overheads but also proves to be energy-efficient as the ranging procedure (which consumes lots of energy) is only limited to the particular predicted TBS. Another idea discussed in [6] is to modify the MOB NBR-ADV broadcast message, which contains static channel-related information on the NBSs, to provide link quality parameters-oriented dynamic information on the BSs. This would decrease the need for scanning as the MS can gather more handover decision related information from broadcast messages themselves. Elimination of NBSs as TBS candidates, prior to scanning, depending on QoS, active service flows and bandwidth requirements of the MS, is also a good solution for avoiding unwanted scanning activities [7]-[8]. However, in spite of all these proposals, there is still a need to come up with universally accepted ideas on dealing with unwanted delays and wastage of channel resources owing to excessive scanning, ranging and association related activities during MWiMAX handover operations. Standard methods for performing the CINR measurements are also desirable. II. HANDOVER PROCESS The entire process of HHO in IEEE 802.16e is broadly divided into Network Topology Acquisition Phase (NTAP) and the Actual Handover phase (AHOP). Detailed explanation of the entire procedure can be found in [9]. A. Network Topology Acquisition Phase: During the NTAP, the MS and serving BS (SBS), together with the help of the backhaul network, gather information about the underlying network topology before the actual handover decision is made. This is done to identify lists of potential NBSs, out of which one particular TBS may be chosen for the handover activity. Figure 1 shows the message sequence chart for the procedure. The major tasks involved in this phase are briefly as follows: BS advertises the Network Topology: Using MOB NBRADV (Mobile Neighbour Advertisement) message, the SBS periodically broadcasts information about the state of the NBSs, preparing for potential handover activities. The SBS keeps on gathering these channel information of the NBSs with the help of the backbone network. Scanning of advertised neighbouring BSs by MS: The MS scans the advertised BSs within specific time frames, to select suitable candidate BSs for the handover. A list of potential candidate TBSs is thus maintained. This procedure is carried out with the help of Scanning Interval Allocation request and response messages (MOB SCNREQ and MOB SCN-RSP), respectively, sent by the MS and the SBS. In the end, Scanning Result Report (MOB SCN-REP) summarizes all the scanning activities. Ranging and Optional Association Activities: The scanning is followed by contention/non-contention ranging activities through which the MS gathers further information about the PHY channel related to the selected TBSs. Ranging Request (RNG REQ) and Ranging

Response (RNG RSP) messages are used for this purpose. Ranging may be followed by optional association activities through which the MS gets associated with the potential target BS candidates. Association Result Reports (MOB ASC-REP) are used for this purpose.

Figure 1 B. Actual Handover Phase: During the AHOP, the MS switches location from the SBS to the selected TBS. The major tasks involved are briefly described as follows: Deciding on the TBS: Here the MS chooses the final TBS to handover to, out of the multiple TBSs selected from the scanning activities. The decision or initialization of a handover process may arise at the MS, the SBS or at the network associated. If the decision arises at the MS, it communicates the MOB MSHO-REQ message containing the list of selected TBSs to the SBS and the SBS replies back with the MOB BSHO-RSP message. On the other hand, if the decision arises at the SBS, the MOB BSHOREQ message is used. However, handover decision and initiation messages from the MS are always given preference. Initiating the Handover: Depending on the abovementioned messages, once a particular TBS is selected from the list of the suitable candidate TBSs, the MS informs the current SBS about the beginning of the HO activity by sending a MOB HO-IND (Mobile Handover Indication) message. It is at this point that the MS terminates its connection with the current SBS. TBS synchronization and Ranging Process: Appropriate synchronization and ranging activities take place once again with the TBS, to resume DL/UL retransmissions.

 Authorization and Registration Phases: Lengthy authorization and registration processes of the MS with the TBS follow next. It marks the onset of the network reentry phase of this MS, after which it becomes fully functional with the new SBS. III. CHANNEL SCANNING Similar to its contemporary technologies like WLAN and third generation (3G) systems, 802.16e too suffers from large handover delays and resource wastages. Lengthy and blind scanning activities are one of the primary reasons. However, in 802.16e such blind scanning is partially avoided with the serving BS periodically gathering and broadcasting information about the neighboring BSs. A MS that needs a handover then scans the advertised BSs to select the potential new target BS. However, as the standard does not specifyanything regarding the number of advertised BSs, hence chances of unnecessary and excessive scanning activities are always there. Ranging and association activities follow scanning. For multiple neighboring BSs, these activities are repeated for each of the BS. As stated, a MS might need all these activities including scanning to be performed in multiple iterations. Also, the standard does not clearly specify the number of iterations. The scanning duration (measured by the number of frames) depends on the number of BSs scanned. Therefore, more the number of BSs scanned more is the scan duration and more is the time required for the associated activities, which would increase the overall handover delay. Moreover, since, during the scanning interval, all kinds of transmissions between the MS and the serving BS are paused, it leads to significant throughput degradation and particularly hampers the QoS of delaysensitive real-time traffics [10]. Further, before the final selection of the new target BS, the MS selects multiple potential candidate BSs from the advertised list of all neighboring BSs through scanning and synchronization activities. Each of the selected BSs then allocates individual ranging slots for probable future synchronization activities. When the new target BS is finally decided, all the allocated slots (except those of the newly selected target BS) are wasted. This adds to the volume of resource wastages during handover [10]. Limiting the number of BSs scanned can reduce such resource wastages and unnecessary slot allocations. IV. PROPOSED CHANNEL SCANNING Fig. 2 shows the message sequence chart of the IEEE 802.16e Network Topology Acquisition Phase modified as per our proposed scheme. Our proposed algorithm depends on the joint decisions of the MS and the serving BS and works as follows selecting a very limited number of neighboring BSs for the potential scanning activity during an 802.16e HHO scenario. Each 802.16e-enabled MS maintains a TMDB(Temporary Movement Database), which is updated periodically. Whenever, a MS feels the

requirement for a handover, it communicates the TMDB information to the serving BS through the MOB_HO-REP message, which indicates the onset of a potential handover activity. The serving BS maintains a PHDB(Potential Handover Database), which is also updated periodically. On receiving the MOB_HO-REP message, the serving BS, based on the received TMDB information, computes the future mobility pattern of the MS over the next Tms secs. Based on this, out of the total number of neighboring BSs, TNBS, the serving BS discards those BSs that do not match the mobility pattern and only selects the remaining N number of BSs (N << TNBS), which are likely to be visited by the MS.

Figure 2 Further selections of M probable BSs, out of these N short-listed BSs (M << N), are made based on the integration of the load and the coverage factors. We assign WLF and WCF as the individual weight values to the load and the coverage factors respectively. The function to predict the probability of a BS (PTBS) to be the next target BS is given by PTBS = CLF * WLF + CCF * WCF where 0 WLF , WCF 1 and Fi, Wi and N indicates the individual factors, assigned weights and the number of factors, respectively. Then the M neighboring BSs are sorted with the most suitable BS coming to the top. The serving BS then communicates the MOB_NBR-ADV message with the BSID of the selected most suitable neighboring BS for the potential handover, in reply to the MSs MOB_HOREP message. The MS thus scans and performs synchronization and association activities with only the selected BS, rather

than performing unnecessary time-consuming scanning activities with all the neighboring BSs. V. PERFORMANCE The performance of our proposed scheme was tested in an environment with 10 BSs and a maximum speed of 120 kmph., with the help of OPNET Modeler simulator.

the throughput of the existing and proposed scheme. Figure 4 shows the Jitter of the existing and proposed scheme. It is seen that the proposed scheme out performs the existing scheme. VI. CONCLUSION In the conventional IEEE 802.16e HHO process, in order to select the ideal BS for a potential handoff, a MS performs scanning of an unspecified number of advertised BSs. This may result in much unnecessary scanning and synchronization activities leading to increased handover delay and resource wastages. Signal strength measurement is the only criteria behind the entire procedure. However, considering the mobility of the MSs, this may not be the ideal scenario. In this paper, we have proposed a hybrid predictive BS selection scheme for potential scanning activities, depending on such important criteria like MSs mobility direction, relative positions of the neighboring BSs and coverage information, along with information about the current load in each BS. Simulation results have shown that our scheme significantly reduces the scanning time and resource wastages thus improving the overall handover performance. REFERENCES
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Figure 4 The graph msu_1 represents existing scheme and msu_2 represents the proposed scheme. Figure 3 shows

[10] Doo Hwan Lee, K Kyamakya, J. P. Umondi, Fast handover algorithm for IEEE 802.16e broadband wireless access system,1st International Symposium on Wireless Pervasive Computing 2006.