Secure and fast mobility handover scheme for IoMT in 5 G and future 6 G networks

The emergence of 5 G and 6 G networks promises significant advancements in the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) by enabling real-time medical data transmission and continuous connectivity for mobile healthcare devices. However, traditional Handover (HO) mechanisms face latency, security, energy consumption, and scalability challenges when supporting fast-moving and dense IoMT environments. This paper presents a secure and fast mobility handover scheme for IoMT in 5 G and future 6 G networks, incorporating a predictive algorithm, Blockchain-Based (BC-B) decentralized authentication mechanism, and AI-driven anomaly detection. The predictive algorithm anticipates device movement and pre-allocates resources at the target Base Station (BS), reducing HO latency by 20–30 % in 5 G and up to 40 % in 6 G. Meanwhile, blockchain-based authentication ensures tamper-proof and decentralized security, reducing vulnerability to cyberattacks by 90 % compared to traditional methods. Additionally, the energy consumption during HO events is reduced by 20–35 %, dropping from 15 mJ in traditional schemes to 12 mJ in 5 G and further to 10 mJ in 6 G. The scheme also incorporates AI-driven anomaly detection, achieving an accuracy of 96.7 %, ensuring proactive identification and mitigation of potential security threats. The analyzed scheme maintains consistent throughput with less than 5 % reduction and scales effectively for up to 300 devices per cell. The simulation results demonstrate significant improvements across key performance metrics, including latency, security, energy efficiency, and scalability, making this approach highly suitable for critical IoMT applications such as telesurgery, remote patient monitoring, and innovative healthcare environments. These advancements position the analyzed framework as a cornerstone for next-generation (NG) healthcare networks.