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

System modeling and performance evaluation of rate allocation schemes for packet data services in wideband CDMA systems

To fully exploit the potential of a wideband CDMA-based mobile Internet computing system, an efficient algorithm is needed for judiciously performing rate allocation, so as to orchestrate and allocate bandwidth for voice services and high data rate applications. However, in existing standards (e.g., cdma2000), only a first-come-first-served equal sharing allocation algorithm is used, potentially leading to a low bandwidth utilization and inadequate support of high data rate multimedia mobile applications (e.g., video/audio files swapping, multimedia messaging services, etc.). In this paper, we first analytically model the rate allocation problem that captures realistic system constraints such as downlink power limits and control, uplink Interference effects, physical channel adaptation, and soft handoff. We then suggest six efficient rate allocation schemes that are designed based on different philosophies: rate optimal, fairness-based, and user-oriented. Simulations are performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the rate allocation schemes using realistic system parameters In our model.published_or_final_versio

Technology Forecasting for Wireless Communication

Wireless communications technologies have undergone rapid changes over the last 30 years from analog approaches to digital-based systems. These technologies have improved on many fronts including bandwidth, range, and power requirements. Development of new telecommunications technologies is critical. It requires many years of efforts. In order to be competitive, it is critical to establish a roadmap of future technologies. This paper presents a framework to characterize, assess and forecast the wireless communication technologies. A DEA-based methodology was used for predicting the state-of-the-art in future wireless communications technologies

Dimming cellular networks

We propose a novel technique called dimming to improve the energy efficiency of cellular networks by reducing the capacity, services, and energy consumption of cells without turning off the cells. We define three basic methods to dim the network: coverage, frequency, and service dimming. We construct a multi-time period optimization problem to implement frequency dimming and extend it to implement both frequency and service dimming together. We illustrate the ability of dimming techniques to adapt the capacity and network services in proportion to the dynamic spatial and temporal load resulting in significant energy savings through numerical results for a sample network. ©2010 IEEE

Chinese cellular telecommunications in the past and the 21st century

Cellular telecommunication technology is one of the hottest topics of the last two decades. The annual rate of user growth is more than 30 percent. It began with the first generation (1G) networks and bloomed with second generation (2G) of cellular technologies. New third generation cellular (3G) technologies aim at offering high-speed, superior-quality information service to mobile subscribers. [2] The Chinese cellular market is developing with unbelievable speed. China launched its first cellular network in 1987. At the end of 2002, it was the biggest wireless market in the world, with more than 200 million subscribers. [56] Technologies used in the migration from the 2G networks to the 3G networks are referred to as 2.5 generation or 2.5G. It is no doubt that the 3G pattern selected in China will deeply affect the competition among the 3G technologies. This thesis will forecast the 3G systems to be selected for use in China. It will begin with the 1G and 2G networks and then look into the 2.5 G and the 3G cellular telecommunication technologies in more detail. Analysis the history, culture and business conditions in China will follow. Finally, this paper will make a prediction of the principal Chinese 3G technologies that will be chosen based on analyzing concrete information. An examination of other Asia markets, such as the 3G markets in Japan, and South Korea will be included. The conclusion of this thesis is that WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), a 3G technology that is developed and supported by European telecommunication manufacturers, will take the lion\u27s share of the Chinese 3G market, about 65% to 70%. Another technology, CDMA2000, will take more than 20% of the Chinese 3G market share. There is also a Chinese oriented 3G technology named TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access). With the Chinese government\u27s support, it will collect the remaining 10% to 15% market share

On generalized optimal scheduling of high data-rate bursts in CDMA systems

In a code-division multiple access (CDMA)-based wireless communication system, forward link is power limited and reverse link is interference limited. With power control and statistical multiplexing, voice services can be supported reasonably well. However, for high data-rate services, a more comprehensive scheduling mechanism is needed in order to achieve a high capacity while satisfying the forward and reverse link constraints. In this paper, we formulate the high data-burst scheduling as a integer programming problem using a generic CDMA system model. We also suggest an optimal algorithm for generating scheduling solutions. With cdma2000 system details plugged in the proposed algorithm, it is found that our algorithm considerably outperforms several fast heuristics, including equal sharing, first-come-first-served, longest delay first, and shortest burst first.published_or_final_versio