A simple and efficient routing protocol for the UMTSA Access network

This paper presents a simple network layer protocol that integrates routing and connectionless transfer of data in a wireless environment. The protocol is specifically geared towards supporting transfer of signalling in mobile networks based on a rooted tree topology. Exploiting the special characteristics of such a topology allows the specification of a very simple and processing efficient routing function. Using the routing function, a connectionless message transport service is implemented. The connectionless transport service is comparable to that of typical network layer protocols of existing data networks. The protocol has originally been specified to carry signalling messages in the control plane of mobile, cellular systems but has the potential to be used also in other environments.