MIPv6 Experimental Evaluation using Overlay Networks

The commercial deployment of Mobile IPv6 has been hastened by the concepts of Integrated Wireless Networks and Overlay Networks, which are present in the notion of the forthcoming generation of wireless communications. Individual wireless access networks show limitations that can be overcome through the integration of different technologies into a single unified platform (i.e., 4G systems). This paper summarises practical experiments performed to evaluate the impact of inter-networking (i.e. vertical handovers) on the Network and Transport layers. Based on our observations, we propose and evaluate a number of inter-technology handover optimisation techniques, e.g., Router Advertisements frequency values, Binding Update simulcasting, Router Advertisement caching, and Soft Handovers. The paper concludes with the description of a policy-based mobility support middleware (PROTON) that hides 4G networking complexities from mobile users, provides informed handover-related decisions, and enables the application of different vertical handover methods and optimisations according to context.Publicad

Analysis of the effect of mobile terminal speed on WLAN/3G vertical handovers

Proceedings of IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference, GLOBECOM '06, San Francisco, California, 27 november - 1 december, 2006.WLAN hot-spots are becoming widely spread. This, combined with the availability of new multi-mode terminals integrating heterogeneous technologies, opens new business opportunities for mobile operators. Scenarios in which 3G coverage is complemented by WLAN deployments are becoming available. Thus, true all-IP based networks are ready to offer a new variety of services across heterogeneous access. However, to achieve this, some aspects still need to be analyzed. In particular, the effect of the terminal speed on the detection and selection process of the preferred access network is not yet well understood. In fact, efficiency of vertical handovers depends on the appropriate configuration of mobile devices. In this paper we present a simulation study of handover performance between 3G and WLAN access networks showing the impact of mobile users’ speed. The mobile devices are based on the IEEE 802.21 cross layer architecture and use WLAN signal level thresholds as handover criteria. A novel algorithm to dynamically adjust terminals’ configuration is presented.Publicad

Implementation of Vertical Handoff Algorithm between IEEE802.11 WLAN and CDMA Cellular Network

Today’s wireless users expect great things from tomorrow’s wireless networks. These expectations have been fueled by hype about what the next generations of wireless networks will offer. The rapid increase of wireless subscribers increases the quality of services anytime, anywhere, and by any-media becoming indispensable. Integration of various networks such as CDMA2000 and wireless LAN into IP-based networks is required in these kinds of services, which further requires a seamless vertical handoff to 4th generation wireless networks. The proposed handoff algorithm between WLAN and CDMA2000 cellular network is implemented. The results of the simulation shows the behavior of the handoff and the time spent in WLAN or CDMA. The number of weak signal beacons determines whether a handoff is required or not. In this algorithm, traffic is classified into real-time and non real-time services

Enhancing Capacity and Network Performance of Client-Server Architectures Using Mobile IPv6 Host-Based Network Protocol

A huge number of studies have been done supporting seamless mobility networks and mobile technologies over the years. The recent innovations in technology have unveiled another revolution from the static architectural approach to more dynamic and even mobile approaches for client-server networks. Due to the special equipments and infrastructure needed to support network mobility management, it is difficult to deploy such networks beyond the local network coverage without interruption of communications. Therefore, MIPv6 as developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and ancillary technologies were reviewed to provide clear insights on implementing MIPv6 in Client-Server architectures. However, MIPv6 technology presents weaknesses related to its critical handover latency which appears long for real-time applications such as Video Stream with potential loss of data packets during transmission

A Unified Mobility Management Architecture for Interworked Heterogeneous Mobile Networks

The buzzword of this decade has been convergence: the convergence of telecommunications, Internet, entertainment, and information technologies for the seamless provisioning of multimedia services across different network types. Thus the future Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) can be envisioned as a group of co-existing heterogeneous mobile data networking technologies sharing a common Internet Protocol (IP) based backbone. In such all-IP based heterogeneous networking environments, ongoing sessions from roaming users are subjected to frequent vertical handoffs across network boundaries. Therefore, ensuring uninterrupted service continuity during session handoffs requires successful mobility and session management mechanisms to be implemented in these participating access networks. Therefore, it is essential for a common interworking framework to be in place for ensuring seamless service continuity over dissimilar networks to enable a potential user to freely roam from one network to another. For the best of our knowledge, the need for a suitable unified mobility and session management framework for the NGMN has not been successfully addressed as yet. This can be seen as the primary motivation of this research. Therefore, the key objectives of this thesis can be stated as: To propose a mobility-aware novel architecture for interworking between heterogeneous mobile data networks To propose a framework for facilitating unified real-time session management (inclusive of session establishment and seamless session handoff) across these different networks. In order to achieve the above goals, an interworking architecture is designed by incorporating the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) as the coupling mediator between dissipate mobile data networking technologies. Subsequently, two different mobility management frameworks are proposed and implemented over the initial interworking architectural design. The first mobility management framework is fully handled by the IMS at the Application Layer. This framework is primarily dependant on the IMS’s default session management protocol, which is the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). The second framework is a combined method based on SIP and the Mobile IP (MIP) protocols, which is essentially operated at the Network Layer. An analytical model is derived for evaluating the proposed scheme for analyzing the network Quality of Service (QoS) metrics and measures involved in session mobility management for the proposed mobility management frameworks. More precisely, these analyzed QoS metrics include vertical handoff delay, transient packet loss, jitter, and signaling overhead/cost. The results of the QoS analysis indicates that a MIP-SIP based mobility management framework performs better than its predecessor, the Pure-SIP based mobility management method. Also, the analysis results indicate that the QoS performances for the investigated parameters are within acceptable levels for real-time VoIP conversations. An OPNET based simulation platform is also used for modeling the proposed mobility management frameworks. All simulated scenarios prove to be capable of performing successful VoIP session handoffs between dissimilar networks whilst maintaining acceptable QoS levels. Lastly, based on the findings, the contributions made by this thesis can be summarized as: The development of a novel framework for interworked heterogeneous mobile data networks in a NGMN environment. The final design conveniently enables 3G cellular technologies (such as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS) or Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000) type systems), Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN) technologies, and Wireless Metropolitan Area Networking (WMAN) technologies (e.g., Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) systems such as WiMAX) to interwork under a common signaling platform. The introduction of a novel unified/centralized mobility and session management platform by exploiting the IMS as a universal coupling mediator for real-time session negotiation and management. This enables a roaming user to seamlessly handoff sessions between different heterogeneous networks. As secondary outcomes of this thesis, an analytical framework and an OPNET simulation framework are developed for analyzing vertical handoff performance. This OPNET simulation platform is suitable for commercial use

Enhancing Capacity and Network Performance of Client-Server Architectures Using Mobile IPv6 Host-Based Network Protocol

A huge number of studies have been done supporting seamless mobility networks and mobile technologies over the years The recent innovations in technology have unveiled another revolution from the static architectural approach to more dynamic and even mobile approaches for client-server networks Due to the special equipments and infrastructure needed to support network mobility management it is difficult to deploy such networks beyond the local network coverage without interruption of communications Therefore MIPv6 as developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force IETF and ancillary technologies were reviewed to provide clear insights on implementing MIPv6 in Client-Server architectures However MIPv6 technology presents weaknesses related to its critical handover latency which appears long for real-time applications such as Video Stream with potential loss of data packets during transmissio

Vertical Fast Handoff Technique For Mobile IPv6 in Heterogeneous 4G Networks

Over the recent years, mobility in wireless communications has become a big interest of communication and network researches due to the rising demand on and expectations of wireless Internet access. However, since none of the existing wireless technologies can individually fulfill all the tasks arising from the Internet users’ demands, the integration or coexistence of different communication systems having different network characteristics is inevitable. This integration on the other hand, requires seamless inter-system mobility solutions. Every inter-system roaming which leads to vertical handoff requires proper interaction of both link and IP layers, since network point of attachment as well as the device interface are involved in handoff. Many investigations in standardization are being made to finally design and implement each of these communication layers. This thesis details out the whole research, which is done in two main components. As for the first component, a link layer mechanism with the notion of a selection algorithm based on weighted mean is primarily introduced for collecting link layer information and discovering the candidate access router. This mechanism is then used as handoff decision phase with an improved mobile-assisted handoff method as an extension of Fast Mobile IPv6 Handoff (FMIPv6) in vertical mode. The performance of the proposed methods is discussed using analysis and comparison of simulation results with wellknown methods in the field. The method has been shown to achieve performance improvements in terms of higher preference level of selection for various cases, and in terms of latency and packet loss, by 45% and 83% respectively, while maintaining comparatively lower buffer sizes. As the second component, a framework is proposed to incorporate an integration mode of cellular and wireless networks called semi tightly-coupled. This framework is further used to design and implement an end-to-end roaming solution as Vertical Fast Handoff (VFHO) for the integrated network. The performance of the proposed framework has been analyzed mathematically and through simulations which show the robustness of VFHO in terms of signaling cost, endto- end packet delivery cost, overall handoff latency, and packet loss based on various system variables. Under several simulations, the number of lost packets encountered by VFHO stayed as low as 20 packets when the arrival rate was a maximum of 50 packets per second, and did not exceed 10 packets in the case when packet sizes was at a maximum of 256 Bytes or when buffer size was set to 50 KB. Besides, the delay varied between 200 and 600 ms in cases when the Duplicate Address Detection (DAD) and wireless link delays reached up to 600 ms and 70 ms, respectively. In conclusion, the selection-based decision mechanism in vertical handoff such as VFHO, can be good for congestion control, and achieve long-term objectives such as load sharing