Providing Connection-Oriented Network Services to Mobile Hosts

Mobile computers using wireless networks, along with multimedia applications, are two emerging trends in computer systems. This new mobile multimedia computing environment presents many challenges, due to the requirements of multimedia applications and the mobile nature of hosts. We present several alternative schemes for maintaining network connections used to provide multimedia service, as hosts move through a nano-cellular radio network. These algorithms modify existing connections by partially reestablishing them to perform handoffs. Using a simple analytical model, we compare the schemes on the basis of the service disruption caused by handoffs, required buffering, and excess resources required to perform the handoffs.