Mobility management support and performance analysis for wireless MPLS networks

Multi‐Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is deployed in the Internet backbone to support service differentiation and traffic engineering. In recent years, there has been interest in extending the MPLS capability to wireless access networks for mobility management support. In this paper, we present analysis of Micro Mobile MPLS, a new micro‐mobility management scheme which integrates the Mobile IP and MPLS protocols by using two‐level hierarchy architecture. Our proposal supports two protocol variants. First, the fast handoff process, which anticipates the LSP procedure set‐up with neighboring locations where a mobile node (MN) may move to, is provided to reduce service disruption. Second, a new mechanism based on the forwarding chain concept is proposed to track efficiently the host mobility within a domain. This concept can significantly reduce registration update costs and provide low handoff latency. Analytical models are developed and simulations are conducted to justify the benefits of our proposed mechanisms. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

一种基于位置和标识分离的移动性管理解决方案

基于位置和标识分离的解决方案不能很好地同时解决移动性支持和可扩展性差的问题,并且难于部署。文章提出一种新的基于位置和标识分离的网络架构,并给出与该架构相适应的移动性管理解决方案。该方案不仅能很好地解决网络的可扩展性问题,在移动性支持方面还具有如下的特点:不需要修改终端协议栈,易于部署;标识符含有一定的路由信息,能提供较好的与传统终端互通的能力;将映射系统分布于边缘网络内,增强了系统的鲁棒性并降低了切换时延。     

Mobility management in third-generation all-IP networks

It is now widely recognized that using IP as the foundation for next-generation mobile networks makes strong economic and technical sense, since it takes advantage of the ubiquitous installed IP infrastructure, capitalizes on the IETF standardization process, and benefits from both existing and emerging IP-related technologies and services. The large-scale support of data services and their integration with legacy services are the common objectives of all wireless efforts termed third generation (3G) and beyond. In these all-IP wireless networks, IP can be deployed in two modes: the transport mode and the native mode. As we show in this article, this duality in the use of IP has a significant impact on network efficiency and performance. It is the extended native use of IP in the terrestrial segment of a wireless operator's domain that more readily allows for building a converged network with multiple access technologies. We then discuss the different levels of mobility in the all-IP network. In particular, our focus is on micromobility, and on the issue of seamless localized mobility within the converged network. After reviewing the mobility schemes that have emerged in previous years, we describe a hierarchical mobility management scheme based on multiprotocol label switching (MPLS). The scheme employs an enhanced type of MPLS routers, called label edge mobility agents, and is scalable, efficient, and flexible. It directly inherits the noted capabilities of MPLS in terms of support of QoS, traffic engineering, advanced IP services, and fast restoration. This scheme does not use nodes that are specific to any given wireless technology, and is well suited for gradual deployment     

Distributed Mobility Management for Target Tracking in Mobile Sensor Networks

Mobility management is a major challenge in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) due in part to the dynamically changing network topologies. For mobile sensor networks that are deployed for surveillance applications, it is important to use a mobility management scheme that can empower nodes to make better decisions regarding their positions such that strategic tasks such as target tracking can benefit from node movement. In this paper, we describe a distributed mobility management scheme for mobile sensor networks. The proposed scheme considers node movement decisions as part of a distributed optimization problem which integrates mobility-enhanced improvement in the quality of target tracking data with the associated negative consequences of increased energy consumption due to locomotion, potential loss of network connectivity, and loss of sensing coverage.     

MaGMA: mobility and group management architecture for real‐time collaborative applications

We introduce MaGMA, a mobility and group management architecture, enabling real‐time collaborative group applications such as push‐to‐talk (PTT) for mobile users. MaGMA provides, for the first time, a comprehensive and scalable solution for group management, seamless mobility, and quality‐of‐service (QoS). MaGMA is a distributed IP‐based architecture consisting of an overlay server network deployed as part of the service infrastructure. MaGMA's architecture consists of a collection of mobile group managers (MGMs), which manage group membership and may also implement a multicast overlay for data delivery. The architecture is very flexible, and can co‐exist with current as well as emerging wireless network technologies. We see such services as essential components in beyond‐3G (B3G) networks. We propose two group management approaches in the context of MaGMA. We devise protocols for both approaches, evaluate both solutions using simulations, and validate the results through mathematical analysis. Finally, we present a proof‐of‐concept prototype implementation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A service level model and Internet mobility monitor

Mobility is gaining a tremendous interest among Internet users and wireless access networks are increasingly being installed to enable mobile usage. Internet mobility requires solutions to move between access networks with maintained network connectivity. Seamless mobility in turn means that the experience of using a service is unaffected while being mobile. Communication in next generation networks will use multiple access technologies, creating a heterogeneous network environment. Further, roaming between network service providers may take place. To enable mobile nodes to move between access networks within as well as between network service providers with minimal disruption, nodes should be able to maintain multiple active network connections. With the usage of multihomed nodes, seamless mobility can be achieved in already installed infrastructures, not providing mobility support. Mobility in heterogeneous access networks also requires network selections that scale for services. In this article we propose an architecture where application service providers and network service providers define service levels to be used by a mobile node and its user. The user selects a service and the service level from an application service provider. When performing access network selection, information received as part of an application service level will be used to find a network that supports the service required. The performance of available access networks will be monitored and considered when making the decision. Our proposed architecture provides solutions to move flows between interfaces in real-time based on network performance, quality of service signalling to correspondent nodes, and cancellation of flows to give way for more important traffic.     

System lifetime optimization for heterogeneous sensor networks with a hub-spoke technology

As a specific area of sensor networks, wireless in-home sensor networks differ from general sensor networks in that the network has nodes with heterogeneous resources and dissimilar mobility attributes. For example, sensor with different radio coverage, energy capacity, and processing capabilities are deployed, and some of the sensors are mobile and others are fixed in position. The architecture and routing protocol for this type of heterogeneous sensor networks must be based on the resources and characteristics of their member nodes. In addition, the sole stress on energy efficiency for performance measurement is not sufficient. System lifetime is more important in this case. We propose a hub-spoke network topology that is adaptively formed according to the resources of its members. A protocol named resource oriented protocol (ROP) was developed to build the network topology. This protocol principally divides the network operation into two phases. In the topology formation phase, nodes report their available resource characteristics, based on which network architecture is optimally built. We stress that due to the existence of nodes with limitless resources, a top-down appointment process can build the architecture with minimum resource consumption of ordinary nodes. In the topology update phase, mobile sensors and isolated sensors are accepted into the network with an optimal balance of resources. To avoid overhead of periodic route updates, we use a reactive strategy to maintain route cache. Simulation results show that the hub-spoke topology built by ROP can achieve much longer system lifetime.     

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.     

A survey and comparative study of QoS aware broadcasting techniques in VANET

Mobile operators currently encounter numerous challenges caused by the centralized architecture of mobile networks. A single mobility anchor placed at the network core maintains the entire mobility and data traffic forwarding in the existing centralized mobility management (CMM) solutions. The CMM approach confronts several issues in scalability, reliability, signaling overhead, and non-optimal routing due to the increasing number of mobile devices and the volume of data traffic. To overcome these issues, a new architectural paradigm called distributed mobility management (DMM) is proposed to flatten the network architecture by moving mobility anchors closer to users and separating the control and data planes at the network edge. Two DMM solutions are developed: partially distributed mobility management (partial-DMM) in which only the data plane is distributed and fully distributed mobility management (full-DMM) where both control and data planes are distributed, which can be potentially applied for future mobile networks. This paper presents a network-based full-DMM scheme that was developed and implemented using NS2 network simulator by removing any dedicated centralized mobility anchor from the architecture. Extensive simulations were conducted to evaluate and compare the performance of the full-DMM model with that of the traditional CMM model. The simulation results show that the full-DMM provides lower end-to-end delay performance than CMM. However, the full-DMM generates higher handover latency and packet loss than CMM at high MN speeds. Moreover, simulation results clearly show the benefits of dynamic mobility activation in the full-DMM model.     

Software‐defined networking approach for enhanced evolved packet core network

The evolved packet core (EPC) network is the mobile network standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project and represents the recent evolution of mobile networks providing high‐speed data rates and on‐demand connectivity services. Software‐defined networking (SDN) is recently gaining momentum in network research as a new generation networking technique. An SDN‐based EPC is expected to introduce gains to the EPC control plane architecture in terms of simplified, and perhaps even software‐based, vendor independent infrastructure nodes. In this paper, we propose a novel SDN‐based EPC architecture along with the protocol‐level detailed implementation and provide a mechanism for identifying information fields exchanged between SDN‐EPC entities that maintains correct functionality with minimal impact on the conventional design. Furthermore, we present the first comprehensive network performance evaluation for the SDN‐based EPC versus the conventional EPC and provide a comparative analysis of 2 networks performances identifying potential bottlenecks and performance issues. The evaluation focuses on 2 network control operations, namely, the S1‐handover and registration operations, taking into account several factors, and assessing performance metrics such as end‐to‐end delay (E2ED) for completion of the respective control operation, and EPC nodes utilization figures.     

SDN‐DMM for intelligent mobility management in heterogeneous mobile IP networks

Mobility management applied to the traditional architecture of the Internet has become a great challenge because of the exponential growth in the number of devices that can connect to the network. This article proposes a Software‐Defined Networking (SDN)‐based architecture, called SDN‐DMM (SDN‐Distributed Mobility Management), that deals with the distributed mode of mobility management in heterogeneous access networks in a simplified and efficient way, ensuring mainly the continuity of IP sessions. Intent‐based mobility management with an IP mapping schema for mobile node identification offers optimized routing without tunneling techniques, hence, an efficient use of the network infrastructure. The simplified mobility control API reduces both signaling and handover latency costs and provides a better scalability and performance in comparison with traditional and SDN‐based DMM approaches. An analytical evaluation of such costs demonstrated the better performance of SDN‐DMM, and a proof of concept of the proposal was implemented in a real environment.     

An architecture for mobile radio networks with dynamically changing topology using virtual subnets

An architecture adaptabie to dynamic topology changes in multi-hop mobile radio networks is described. The architecture partitions a mobile network into logically independent subnetworks. Network nodes are members of physical and virtual subnets and may change their affiliation with these subnets due to their mobility. Each node is allocated an address based on its current subnet affiliation. We observe-especially in large networks with random topology-that partitioning of the network may result in significantly more balanced load than in one large multi-hop network, an attribute that can significantly improve the network's performance. The architecture is highly fault-tolerant, has a relatively simple location updating and tracking scheme, and by virtue of its load balancing feature, typically achieves a network with relatively high throughput and low delay. The addressing method, logical topology, mobility management and routing procedure are described, and network performance is evaluated.     

A multi‐anchoring approach in mobile IP networks

Many recent mobility solutions, including derivatives of the well‐known Mobile IP as well as emerging protocols employed by future Internet architectures, propose to realize mobility management by distributing anchoring nodes (Home Agents or other indirection agents) over the Internet. One of their main goals is to address triangle routing by optimizing routes between mobile nodes and correspondent nodes. Thus, a key component of such proposals is the algorithm to select proper mobility anchoring nodes for mobile nodes. However, most current solutions adopt a single‐anchoring approach, which means each mobile node attaches to a sole mobility anchor at one time. In this paper, “we argue that the single‐anchoring approach has drawbacks when facing various mobility scenarios. Then, we offer a novel multi‐anchoring approach that allows each mobile node to select an independent mobility anchor for each correspondent node. We show that in most cases our proposal gains more performance benefits with an acceptable additional cost by evaluation based on real network topologies. For the cases that lead to potential high cost, we also provide a lightweight version of our solution which aims to preserve most performance benefits while keeping a lower cost. At last, we demonstrate how our proposal can be integrated into current Mobile IP networks. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Edge Mobility Architecture — Routeing and Hand-off

This paper presents a network architecture for supporting edge mobility, and goes on to consider IP networks in which the core topology is fixed but where the hosts at the edge of the network may be mobile, as is the case in cellular networks. Within this architecture, mobile enhanced routeing (MER) protocols are used to support the prefix-routed requirements of the fixed Internet, along with the movement of IP addresses allocated to mobile nodes. Specific components for the support of such edge mobility (EMA:MER) are then outlined; these offer fixed/mobile IP network convergence, homogeneous IP handoff across heterogeneous access technologies, and inter-domain roaming across heterogeneous large-scale IP domains.     

Modeling epidemic data diffusion for wireless mobile networks

Data/content dissemination among the mobile devices is the fundamental building block for all the applications in wireless mobile collaborative computing, known as mobile peer‐to‐peer. Different parameters such as node density, scheduling among neighboring nodes, mobility pattern, and node speed have a tremendous impact on data diffusion in a mobile peer‐to‐peer environment. In this paper, we develop analytical models for object diffusion time/delay in a wireless mobile network to apprehend the complex interrelationship among these different parameters. In the analysis, we calculate the probabilities of transmitting a single object from one node to multiple nodes using the epidemic model of spread of disease. We also incorporate the impact of node mobility, radio range, and node density in the networks into the analysis. Utilizing these transition probabilities, we estimate the expected delay for diffusing an object to the entire network both for single object and multiple object scenarios. We then calculate the transmission probabilities of multiple objects among the nodes in the wireless mobile network considering network dynamics. Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate that the proposed scheme is efficient for data diffusion in the wireless mobile network. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An overlay and distributed approach to node mobility in multi-access wireless networks

Nowadays many manufacturers are building mobile devices with multiple interfaces. Thus, users have access to different types of wireless access networks, which often, as for WLAN and cellular systems, coexists independently. The challenge is to make such multiple access networks to cooperate to have ubiquitous access and enhanced user quality of service. In this paper we present a scheme to allow inter-technology mobility by the introduction of an overlay network, which works on top of current (and future) networks. The proposed architecture controls all the aspect related to the mobility management: mobile node localization, handover decision and execution. The approach is distributed: it is the mobile node that decides which network to use, based on the offered service quality and the cost of the communication of the available networks, and triggers the handover execution directly to the corresponding host, using optimized SIP-based procedures. The overlay network copes with the mobile node localization. We implemented our solution in the laboratory to prove its validity and to test performance using real equipment. We also simulated the scheme using ns-3 to extend the evaluation to large scale deployments. In both test environments, our solution demonstrates high accurateness in selecting the network with the best quality as well as in supporting seamless vertical handover.     

IP-RAN中一种新的移动性管理框架

RAN的全IP化是UMTS实现全IP架构过程的一部分。在RAN中,最重要的功能之一就是移动性管理。原有的基于ATM的移动性管理技术在全IP的RAN架构中并不适用。在分析全IP的RAN架构中对移动性管理的新的要求基础上,提出了结合MPLS技术和移动IP技术来解决移动性管理的新的开放的应用架构,并且描述了在这种应用架构下移动IP的协议过程;简要分析了这种应用架构带来的好处,提出还需要改进的地方和实现的技术难点。     

Optimal load balanced clustering in homogeneous wireless sensor networks

Balancing the load among sensor nodes is a major challenge for the long run operation of wireless sensor networks. When a sensor node becomes overloaded, the likelihood of higher latency, energy loss, and congestion becomes high. In this paper, we propose an optimal load balanced clustering for hierarchical cluster‐based wireless sensor networks. We formulate the network design problem as mixed‐integer linear programming. Our contribution is 3‐fold: First, we propose an energy aware cluster head selection model for optimal cluster head selection. Then we propose a delay and energy‐aware routing model for optimal inter‐cluster communication. Finally, we propose an equal traffic for energy efficient clustering for optimal load balanced clustering. We consider the worst case scenario, where all nodes have the same capability and where there are no ways to use mobile sinks or add some powerful nodes as gateways. Thus, our models perform load balancing and maximize network lifetime with no need for special node capabilities such as mobility or heterogeneity or pre‐deployment, which would greatly simplify the problem. We show that the proposed models not only increase network lifetime but also minimize latency between sensor nodes. Numerical results show that energy consumption can be effectively balanced among sensor nodes, and stability period can be greatly extended using our models.     

Integration of Mobile-IP and OLSR for a Universal Mobility

Trends in fourth generation (4G) wireless networks are clearly identified by the full-IP concept where all traffic (data, control, voice and video services, etc.) will be transported in IP packets. Many proposals are being made to enhance IP with the functionalities necessary to manage the mobility of nodes, so that networks can provide global seamless roaming between heterogeneous wireless and wired networks. In this paper, we focus on the management of universal mobility, including both large scale macro-mobility and local scale micro-mobility. We propose a hierachical architecture (i) extending micro-mobility management of a wireless access network to an ad-hoc access network, (ii) connecting this ad-hoc network to the Internet and (iii) integrating Mobile IP and OLSR, a routing protocol for ad-hoc networks, to manage universal mobility. This architecture is validated by an implementation based on DynamicsMobile-IP and OLSR version 7. We show how the brodcast of Mobile-IP Agent Advertisement can be optimized using OLSR MPR-flooding.     

A cluster based mobility prediction scheme for ad hoc networks

The ad hoc networks are completely autonomous wireless networks where all the users are mobile. These networks do not work on any infrastructure and the mobiles communicate either directly or via other nodes of the network by establishing routes. These routes are prone to frequent ruptures because of nodes mobility. If the future movement of the mobile can be predicted in a precise way, the resources reservation can be made before be asked, which enables the network to provide a better QoS. In this aim, we propose a virtual dynamic topology, which on one hand, will organize the network as well as possible and decreases the impact of mobility, and on the other hand, is oriented user mobility prediction. Our prediction scheme uses the evidence theory of Dempster–Shafer in order to predict the future position of the mobile by basing itself on relevant criteria. These ones are related to mobility and network operation optimisation. The proposed scheme is flexible and can be extended to a general framework. To show the relevance of our scheme, we combine it with a routing protocol. Then, we implemented the prediction-oriented topology and the prediction scheme which performs on it. We implemented also a mobility prediction based routing protocol. Simulations are made according to a set of elaborate scenarios.