Mobility management for VoIP service: Mobile IP vs. SIP

Wireless Internet access has gained significant attention as wireless/mobile communications and networking become widespread. The voice over IP service is likely to play a key role in the convergence of IP-based Internet and mobile cellular networks. We explore different mobility management schemes from the perspective of VoIP services, with a focus on Mobile IP and session initiation protocol. After illustrating the signaling message flows in these two protocols for diverse cases of mobility management, we propose a shadow registration concept to reduce the interdomain handoff (macro-mobility) delay in the VoIP service in mobile environments. We also analytically compute and compare the delay and disruption time for exchanging signaling messages associated with the Mobile IP and SIP-based solutions.     

Intelligent Handoff for Mobile Wireless Internet

This paper presents an intelligent mobility management scheme for Mobile Wireless InterNet – MWIN. MWIN is a wireless service networks wherein its core network consisting of Internet routers and its access network can be built from any Internet-capable radio network. Two major standards are currently available for MWIN, i.e., the mobile IP and wireless LAN. Mobile IP solves address mobility problem with the Internet protocol while wireless LAN provides a wireless Internet access in the local area. However, both schemes solve problems independently at different layers, thereby some additional problems occur, e.g., delayed handoff, packet loss, and inefficient routing. This paper identifies these new problems and performs analyses and some real measurements on the handoff within MWIN. Then, a new handoff architecture that extends the features of both mobile IP and wireless LAN handoff mechanism was proposed. This new architecture consists of mobile IP extensions and a modified wireless LAN handoff algorithm. The effect of this enhancement provides a linkage between different layers for preventing packet loss and reducing handoff latency. Finally, some optimization issues regarding network planning and routing are addressed.     

Mobile and Multicast IP Services in PACS: System Architecture, Prototype, and Performance

Traditionally, wireless cellular communication systems have been engineered for voice. With the explosive growth of Internet applications and users, there is an increasing demand on providing Internet services to mobile users based on the voice-oriented cellular networks. However, Internet services add a set of radically different requirements on to the cellular wireless networks, because the nature of communication is very different from voice. It is a challenge to develop an adequate network architecture and necessary systems components to meet those requirements.This paper describes our experience on developing Internet services, in particular, mobile and multicast IP services, in PACS (Personal Access Communication Systems). Our major contributions are five-fold: (i) PACS system architecture that provides wireless Internet and Intranet access by augmenting the voice network with IP routers and backbone links to connect to the Internet; (ii) simplified design of RPCU (Radio Port Controller Unit) for easy service maintenance and migration to future IP standards such as IPv6; (iii) native PACS multicast to efficiently support dynamic IP multicast and MBone connectivity; (iv) optimization and incorporation of Mobile IP into PACS handoff mechanism to efficiently support roaming within a PACS network as well as global mobility between PACS networks and the Internet; (v) successful prototype design of the new architecture and services verified by extensive performance measurements of IP applications. Our design experience and measurement results demonstrate that it is highly feasible to seamlessly integrate the PACS networks into the Internet with global IP mobility and IP multicast services.     

Design,Implementation and Evaluation of Programmable Handoff in Mobile Networks

We describe the design, implementation and evaluation of a programmable architecture for profiling, composing and deploying handoff services. We argue that future wireless access networks should be built on a foundation of open programmable networking allowing for the dynamic deployment of new mobile and wireless services. Customizing handoff control and mobility management in this manner calls for advances in software and networking technologies in order to respond to specific radio, mobility and service quality requirements of future wireless Internet service providers. Two new handoff services are deployed using programmable mobile networking techniques. First, we describe a multi-handoff access network service, which is capable of simultaneously supporting multiple styles of handoff control over the same physical wireless infrastructure. Second, we discuss a reflective handoff service, which allows programmable mobile devices to freely roam between heterogeneous wireless access networks that support different signaling systems. Evaluation results indicate that programmable handoff architectures are capable of scaling to support a large number of mobile devices while achieving similar performance to that of native signaling systems.     

A survey of Mobile IP in cellular and Mobile Ad-Hoc Network environments

The Internet has become ubiquitous and there has been tremendous growth in wireless communications in recent years. Many wireless communication techniques are commercially available, such as the Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, GSM, GPRS and CDMA. Because an all-IP network will be a trend, access to the Internet via wireless communication devices has become an important issue.To reduce power consumption and reuse the limited radio spectrum resources, a cellular network was formed. Cell size is one of the factors in the channel reuse rate. Basically, the channel reuse rate in a smaller cell size is higher than the channel reuse rate in a bigger cell size. Micro-mobility is therefore the inevitable direction for future mobile systems. Frequent and fast movements usually characterize micro-mobility. A cellular architecture would then present a challenge to the frequent handover procedures for a smaller cell size would usually induce a higher handoff frequency.In addition to cellular networks, the ad-hoc network is another network architecture for wireless networks. The ad-hoc network is a non-infrastructure architecture; in which nodes can access services from one another regardless where they are. An excellent routing protocol is crucial for an ad-hoc networking to function at high performance. The main difference between a cellular environment and ad-hoc network is that the ad-hoc method has no fixed infrastructure, allowing nodes to communicate with one another at any time and anywhere.We have mentioned that micro-mobility in a cellular environment would introduce a greater number of handoffs than before. The handoff probability drives the mobile IP mechanism due to signal changes. Using the Mobile IP mechanism, handoff breaking would take place within a micro-mobility environment. Therefore, in this paper, some handoff strategies that take the advantage of the ad-hoc mechanism to improve the handoff performance are investigated.     

Seamless Support for Mobile Internet Protocol Based Cellular Environments

Cellular is the inevitable architecture for the Personal Communication Service system (PCS) in the coming future. Access to the Internet via cellular networks is expected to become an essential portion of future wireless service offerings. Providing seamless support for IP based packet switched services has become an important issue.The Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF's) mobile IP protocol offers a standard solution for wide-area mobility at the IP layer. However, Mobile IP does not solve all of the problems involved in providing mobile Internet access to cellular users, especially during handoff period. Thus, IPv6 might be a good candidate to solve this problem.IPv6 is a new version of the Internet Protocol that was standardized by the IETF. It supports mobility and is presently being standardized by the IETF Mobile IP Working Group. At the same time, cellular is an inevitable architecture for the Personal Communication Service system (PCS).This paper introduces the current cellular support based on the Mobile Internet Protocol version 6. We will point out the short-falls using Mobile IP and try to emphasize protocols especially for mobile management schemes that can optimize a high speed mobile station moving among small wireless cells. A comparison between those schemes and future work will be presented.     

Mobility management in wireless ATM networks

Mobile ATM offers a common wired network infrastructure to support mobility of wireless terminals, independent of the wireless access protocol. In addition, it allows seamless migration to future wireless broadband services, such as wireless ATM, by enabling mobility of end-to-end ATM connections. In spite of the diversity in mobile networking technologies (e.g., cellular telephony, mobile-IP, packet data services, PCS), all of them require two fundamental mechanisms: location management and handoff. This article describes different schemes for augmenting a wired ATM network to support location management of mobile terminals and handoff protocols for rerouting a connection data path when the endpoint moves. A prototype implementation of mobile ATM integrating mobility support with ATM signaling and connection setup, is presented. It shows how mobile ATM may be used to provide mobility support to an IP terminal using non-ATM wireless access     

Wireless ATM networks: technology status and future directions

The concept of “wireless ATM” (WATM), first proposed in 1992, is now being actively considered as a potential framework for new-generation wireless communication networks capable of supporting integrated, quality-of service (QoS) based multimedia services. In this review paper, we outline the technological rationale for wireless ATM, present a system-level architecture, and discuss key design issues for both mobile ATM switching infrastructure and radio access subsystems. The WATM radio access layer issues covered in this paper include: spectrum allocation; spectrum etiquette; modem technology; and medium access/data link control (MAC/DLC) protocols. Mobile ATM aspects such as ATM signaling extensions for handoff control, location management, and mobile QoS control are discussed. A summary of current wireless/mobile ATM technology development and standardization status is given, including an outline of our WATMnet prototype. The paper concludes with a discussion of future directions for wireless ATM technology such as Internet protocol (IP) integration and mobile multimedia terminals/applications     

DiffServ resource allocation for fast handoff in wireless mobileInternet

The next-generation wireless networks are evolving toward a versatile IP-based network that can provide various real-time multimedia services to mobile users. Two major challenges in establishing such a wireless mobile Internet are support of fast handoff and provision of quality of service (QoS) over IP-based wireless access networks. In this article, a DiffServ resource allocation architecture is proposed for the evolving wireless mobile Internet. The registration-domain-based scheme supports fast handoff by significantly reducing mobility management signaling. The registration domain is integrated with the DiffServ mechanism and provisions QoS guarantee for each service class by domain-based admission control. Furthermore, an adaptive assured service is presented for the stream class of traffic, where resource allocation is adjusted according to the network condition in order to minimize handoff call dropping and new call blocking probabilities     

IEEE 802.11 roaming and authentication in wireless LAN/cellular mobile networks

A wireless LAN service integration architecture based on current wireless LAN hot spots is proposed so that migration to a new service becomes easier and cost effective. The proposed architecture offers wireless LAN seamless roaming in wireless LAN/cellular mobile networks. In addition, a link-layer-assisted mobile IP handoff mechanism is introduced to improve the network/domain switching quality in terms of handoff delay and packet loss. An application layer end-to-end authentication and key negotiation scheme is proposed to overcome the open-air connection problem existing in wireless LAN deployment. The scheme provides a general solution for Internet applications running on a mobile station under various authentication scenarios and keeps the communications private to other wireless LAN users and foreign network. A functional demonstration of the scheme is given. The research results can contribute to rapid deployment of wireless LANs.     

A Cross-Layer (Layer 2 + 3) Handoff Management Protocol for Next-Generation Wireless Systems

Next-generation wireless systems (NGWS) integrate different wireless networks, each of which is optimized for some specific services and coverage area to provide ubiquitous communications to the mobile users. It is an important and challenging issue to support seamless handoff management in this integrated architecture. The existing handoff management protocols are not sufficient to guarantee handoff support that is transparent to the applications in NGWS. In this work, a cross-layer (Layer 2 + 3) handoff management protocol, CHMP, is developed to support seamless intra and intersystem handoff management in NGWS. Cross-layer handoff management protocol uses mobile's speed and handoff signaling delay information to enhance the handoff performance of Mobile IP that is proposed to support mobility management in wireless IP networks. First, the handoff performance of Mobile IP is analyzed with respect to its sensitivity to the link layer (Layer 2) and network layer (Layer 3) parameters. Then, a cross-layer handoff management architecture is developed using the insights learnt from the analysis. Based on this architecture, the detailed design of CHMP is carried out. Finally, extensive simulation experiments are carried out to evaluate the performance of CHMP. The theoretical analysis and simulation results show that CHMP significantly enhances the performance of both intra and intersystem handoffs.     

Managing IP services over a PACS Packet Network

We have developed a system and network architecture to provide IP services in the Personal Access Communications System (PACS). IP datagrams are delivered to PACS users through the PACS packet-mode data service, achieving more efficient usage of wireless resources and supporting multimedia applications such as MBone audio and video. The architecture presented in this article augments the PACS voice network with IP routers and backbone links, called the PACS Packet Network (PPN), and is connected to the global Internet via gateways. Compared to the cellular digital packet data (CDPD) network, which employs its own network-layer mobility protocol and thus supports roaming within the CDPD network only, we have incorporated Mobile IP into the PACS handoff mechanism to further achieve global IP mobility. We have also developed native PACS multicast and a group management scheme to efficiently handle dynamic IP multicast and MBone connectivity. These features seamlessly integrate PACS into the global Internet and provide standard-conforming IP services with global mobility     

Integrated Mobility Management Methods for Mobile IP and SIP in IP based Wireless Data Networks

With developments in voice over IP (VoIP), IP-based wireless data networks and their application services have received increased attention. While multimedia applications of mobile nodes are served by Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) as a signaling protocol, the mobility of mobile nodes may be supported via Mobile IP protocol. For a mobile node that uses both Mobile IP and SIP, there is a severe redundant registration overhead because the mobile node has to make location registration separately to a home agent for Mobile IP and to a home registrar for SIP, respectively. Therefore, we propose two new schemes that integrate mobility management functionality in Mobile IP and SIP. We show performance comparisons among the previous method, which makes separate registration for Mobile IP and SIP without integration, and our two integrated methods. Numerical results show that the proposed methods efficiently reduce the amount of signaling messages and delay time related to the idle handoff and the active handoff.     

一种新的WLAN和GPRS融合的移动性管理方案

无线蜂窝网络和无线局域网的融合能充分利用两者的互补能力,提供更加全面的无线服务。本文针对GPRS蜂窝网络和无线局域网现有融合技术中的不足,提出了一种新的基于移动IP技术的松耦合移动性管理方案,旨在减少切换时延、解决三角路由等问题,将有利于移动通信网络的升级和演进发展。     

可编程移动IP网络及其应用

将有市场需求的服务尽快地提供给用户是移动服务提供商竞争的焦点，但是目前的网络技术极大阻碍了新服务的市场化。针对这一情况，基于主动网络技术提出一种可编程移动IP网络，该网络体系结构可以快速创建和部署新的移动IP服务和协议，这样的网络结构大大加快了移动应用服务的市场化进程。基于可编程移动IP网络体系结构开发了一种主动式移动IP协议，证实了可编程移动IP网络在服务创建上的高效性。     

Using group mobility and multihomed mobile gateways to connect mobile ad hoc networks to the global IP Internet

Connecting multihop mobile ad hoc wireless networks (MANETs) to the Internet would enable MANET nodes to share wireless Internet access with mobile hosts that are one‐hop away from their foreign networks. The integration of MANETs and the global Internet, however, faces an obstacle due to their network architectural mismatches regarding their infrastructure, topology, and mobility management mechanisms. Solutions to the integration problem should introduce an intermediate facility with hybrid mechanism, enabling it to connect to both networks. The quality of the multihop wireless Internet access service provided to MANET nodes depends on the design quality of this facility in order for MANET nodes to enjoy their Internet connectivity anywhere and anytime without much disconnections. In this paper, we propose hierarchical architecture that uses group mobility and multihomed mobile gateways, and present and analyse different simulations results. A multihomed mobile gateway can simultaneously connect to multiple Mobile IP foreign agents, provided it is located within their overlapping coverage area. It runs updated versions of the destination‐sequenced distance vector (DSDV) and Mobile IP protocols, and is responsible for providing MANET nodes with wireless Internet access though they are multiple wireless hops away from the edge of the Internet. The rationale behind using multihoming is to increase reliability of the Internet access service and enhance performance of the integrated network. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

HAWAII: a domain-based approach for supporting mobility inwide-area wireless networks

Mobile IP is the current standard for supporting macromobility of mobile hosts. However, in the case of micromobility support, there are several competing proposals. We present the design, implementation and performance evaluation of HAWAII (handoff-aware wireless access Internet infrastructure), a domain-based approach for supporting mobility. HAWAII uses specialized path setup schemes which install host-based forwarding entries in specific routers to support intra-domain micromobility. These path setup schemes deliver excellent performance by reducing mobility related disruption to user applications. Also, mobile hosts retain their network address while moving within the domain, simplifying quality-of-service (QoS) support. Furthermore, reliability is achieved through maintaining soft-state forwarding entries for the mobile hosts and leveraging fault detection mechanisms built in existing intra-domain routing protocols. HAWAII defaults to using Mobile IP for macromobility, thus providing a comprehensive solution for mobility support in wide-area wireless networks     

Dynamic hierarchical mobility management strategy for mobile IP networks

One of the major challenges for the wireless network design is the efficient mobility management, which can be addressed globally (macromobility) and locally (micromobility). Mobile Internet protocol (IP) is a commonly accepted standard to address global mobility of mobile hosts (MHs). It requires the MHs to register with the home agents (HAs) whenever their care-of addresses change. However, such registrations may cause excessive signaling traffic and long service delay. To solve this problem, the hierarchical mobile IP (HMIP) protocol was proposed to employ the hierarchy of foreign agents (FAs) and the gateway FAs (GFAs) to localize registration operations. However, the system performance is critically affected by the selection of GFAs and their reliability. In this paper, we introduce a novel dynamic hierarchical mobility management strategy for mobile IP networks, in which different hierarchies are dynamically set up for different users and the signaling burden is evenly distributed among the network. To justify the effectiveness of our proposed scheme, we develop an analytical model to evaluate the signaling cost. Our performance analysis shows that the proposed dynamic hierarchical mobility management strategy can significantly reduce the system signaling cost under various scenarios and the system robustness is greatly enhanced. Our analysis also shows that the new scheme can outperform the Internet Engineering Task Force mobile IP hierarchical registration scheme in terms of the overall signaling cost. The more important contribution is the novel analytical approach in evaluating the performance of mobile IP networks.     

Mobility management in current and future communications networks

This article describes current and proposed protocols for mobility management for public land mobile networks (PLMNs), Mobile IP, wireless ATM, and satellite networks. The integration of these networks is discussed in the context of the next evolutionary step of wireless communications networks. First, a review is provided of location management algorithms for PCS implemented over a PLMN. The latest protocol changes for location registration and handoff are investigated for Mobile IP, followed by a discussion of proposed protocols for wireless ATM and satellite networks. Finally, an outline of open problems to be addressed by the next generation of wireless network service is discussed     

一种分布式全IP无线接入网方案

提出一种独特的无线IP接入网结构。此结构突破了传统的接入网管理域概念,直接在最靠近无线传输点的基站控制器上为用户提供IP网络接入,构成分布式的全IP无线接入网。其支撑协议MPPP(MobilePoint-to-PointProtocol)可充分体现用户移动的个性特征,构成动态逻辑接入网管理域。提出的快速平滑切换可保证用户在大业务量、频繁高速移动中的无损IP业务。