In this work I firstly present an overview on current wireless
technology and network mobility focusing on
challenges and issues which arise when mobile nodes migrate among
different access networks, while employing real-time communications and
services. In literature many solutions propose different methods and
architectures to enhance vertical handover, the process of transferring a
network communication between two technologically different points of
attachment. After an extensive review of such solutions this document
describes my personal implementation of a fast vertical handover
mechanism for Android smartphones. I also performed a
reliability and performance comparison
between the current Android system and my enhanced architecture which have
both been tested in a
scenario where vertical handover was taking place between WiFi and cellular
network while the mobile node was using video streaming services.
Results show the approach of my implementation to be promising, encouraging
future works, some of which are suggested at the end of this dissertation
together with concluding remarks
