Interworked WiMAX-3G Cellular Data Networks: Art Architecture for Mobility Management and Performance Evaluation

This paper proposes an architecture for interworking heterogeneous all-IP networks with an in-depth analysis of its performance. The novelty of this framework is that it freely enables any 3G cellular technology, such as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) or the CDMA2000 system, to interwork with a given Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) system, such as the Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) network or the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) via a common signaling plane. As a universal coupling mediator for real-time session negotiation and management between these dissimilar networks, the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) has been exploited. The analytical evaluation investigates the behavior of handoff delay, transient packet loss, jitter, and signaling cost during a vertical handoff for the given framework. Finally, an OPNET based simulation platform has been introduced for the verification of the analytical model and results.