Proxy-Based Hierarchical Distributed Mobility Management for Tactical Networks

An important requirement in a military domain is a highly reliable mobility management method, especially when components of the networks are moving in tactical network environments. To increase reliability, the mobility management technology of the tactical network should be able to reflect the characteristics of the tactical network, such as a limited environment, failure, and hierarchical unit structure. In this paper, we propose a proxy-based hierarchical distributed mobility management scheme, which is highly focused on tactical networks. Considering the characteristics of tactical networks, the proposed scheme is composed of the following: 1) a proxy-based method, 2) a distributed mobility management method that synchronizes a mobility database between entities, and 3) a method of managing mobility by dividing the tactical network into upper and lower layers. Mathematical analysis and modeling and simulation results demonstrate that the method outperforms the existing state-of-the-art method in overcoming entity failure, handover cost, and delay in tactical environments.