ecifies the interface of the MIHF with other higher layer entities such as transport layer, handover policy engine, and Layer 3 mobility protocols. In this model, C-SAP and M-SAP provide link services defined by MIH-LINK-SAP; C-SAP provides services before network entry; while CS-SAP provides services over the data-plane after network entry. "XExtensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), as defined by IETF RFC 3748 and updated by IETF RFC 5247, is a universal authentication framework commonly used in wireless networks and point-to-point connections [24]. *Media Independent Handover (MIH) is a standard developed by the IEEE 802.21 to enable handover and interoperability between heterogeneous network types including both 802 and non-802 networks [23]. CHAPTER 3 IEEE 802.16m Reference Model and Protocol Structure Layer 3 Mobility Protocols CS SAP Service Specific Convergence Sublayer CS Management/Configuration MAC SAP Media MAC Common Part Sublayer Independent (MAC CPS) Handover Function (MIHF) MAC Management/Configuration MIH event Security Sublayer service Management Information Base (MIB) command PHY SAP service information service Physical Layer (PHY) PHY Management/Configuration Data/Control Plane Management Plane FIGURE 3-11 MIH reference model for the IEEE 802.16 standard [23] 3.2 THE IEEE 802.16M PROTOCOL STRUCTURE In this section, we further examine the functional elements of each protocol layer and their interac- tions. The 802.16m MAC common part sub-layer functions are classified into radio resource control and management functional group and medium access control functional group. The control-plane functions and data-plane functions are also separately classified. This would allow more organized, efficient, and structured method for specifying the MAC services in the IEEE 802.16m standard specification. As shown in Figure 3-12, the radio resource control and management functional group comprises several functional blocks including: Radio resource management block adjusts radio network parameters related t