Mobility Support in User-Centric Networks

In this paper, an overview of challenges and requirements for mobility management in user-centric networks is given, and a new distributed and dynamic per-application mobility management solution is presented. After a brief summary of generic mobility management concepts, existing approaches from the distributed and peer-to-peer mobility management literature are introduced, along with their applicability or shortcomings in the UCN environment. Possible approaches to deal with the decentralized and highly dynamic nature of UCNs are also provided with a discussion and an introduction to potential future work

An overview of internet engineering task force mobility management protocols: approaches and its challenges

In recent years, internet protocol mobility management has become one of the most popular research areas in networking. Mobility management protocols are in charge of preserving continuing communications as a user roam between different networks. All existing internet protocols (IP), like MIPv6, and PMIPv6, rely on a centralized mobility anchor to control mobile node traffic and signaling. The disadvantages of centralized mobility management (CMM) include ineffectiveness in handling massive volumes of traffic, poor scalability, wasteful use of network resources, and packet delay. When CMM is required to handle mobile media, which demands a huge amount of information and frequently needs quality of services (QoS) such as session continuance and reduced latency, these difficulties become apparent. It drives the need for distributed mobility management protocol (DMM) systems to manage the growing amount of mobile data, the overwhelming of this is video communication. DMM approaches could be regarded as an innovative and effective method to deal with mobility. An overview of the CMM protocol and its drawbacks are analyzed. This study examines the various DMM protocol techniques and their performance metrics are compared to highlight similarities and differences. The study reveals the network-based DMM protocol improves overall handoff time and packet loss

Mobile Content Delivery Network Design and Implementation

In this thesis, a novel concept of Mobile Content Delivery Network is designed and implemented in a real testbed with the target of flexibly adapting the video caching in the cellular network to the users dynamics. New challenges are discussed and practical considerations for wide-scale deployment in next generation cellular networks are drawn

A hybrid DMM solution and trade-off analysis for future wireless networks

Documentos apresentados no âmbito do reconhecimento de graus e diplomas estrangeiro

IP Mobility in Wireless Operator Networks

Wireless network access is gaining increased heterogeneity in terms of the types of IP capable access technologies. The access network heterogeneity is an outcome of incremental and evolutionary approach of building new infrastructure. The recent success of multi-radio terminals drives both building a new infrastructure and implicit deployment of heterogeneous access networks. Typically there is no economical reason to replace the existing infrastructure when building a new one. The gradual migration phase usually takes several years. IP-based mobility across different access networks may involve both horizontal and vertical handovers. Depending on the networking environment, the mobile terminal may be attached to the network through multiple access technologies. Consequently, the terminal may send and receive packets through multiple networks simultaneously. This dissertation addresses the introduction of IP Mobility paradigm into the existing mobile operator network infrastructure that have not originally been designed for multi-access and IP Mobility. We propose a model for the future wireless networking and roaming architecture that does not require revolutionary technology changes and can be deployed without unnecessary complexity. The model proposes a clear separation of operator roles: (i) access operator, (ii) service operator, and (iii) inter-connection and roaming provider. The separation allows each type of an operator to have their own development path and business models without artificial bindings with each other. We also propose minimum requirements for the new model. We present the state of the art of IP Mobility. We also present results of standardization efforts in IP-based wireless architectures. Finally, we present experimentation results of IP-level mobility in various wireless operator deployments.Erilaiset langattomat verkkoyhteydet lisääntyvät Internet-kykyisten teknologioiden muodossa. Lukuisten eri teknologioiden päällekkäinen käyttö johtuu vähitellen ja tarpeen mukaan rakennetusta verkkoinfrastruktuurista. Useita radioteknologioita (kuten WLAN, GSM ja UMTS) sisältävien päätelaitteiden (kuten älypuhelimet ja kannettavat tietokoneet) viimeaikainen kaupallinen menestys edesauttaa uuden verkkoinfrastruktuurin rakentamista, sekä mahdollisesti johtaa verkkoteknologioiden kirjon lisääntymiseen. Olemassa olevaa verkkoinfrastruktuuria ei kaupallisista syistä kannata korvata uudella teknologialla yhdellä kertaa, vaan vaiheittainen siirtymävaihe kestää tyypillisesti useita vuosia. Internet-kykyiset päätelaitteet voivat liikkua joko saman verkkoteknologian sisällä tai eri verkkoteknologioiden välillä. Verkkoympäristöstä riippuen liikkuvat päätelaitteet voivat liittyä verkkoon useiden verkkoyhteyksien kautta. Näin ollen päätelaite voi lähettää ja vastaanottaa tietoliikennepaketteja yhtäaikaisesti lukuisia verkkoja pitkin. Tämä väitöskirja käsittelee Internet-teknologioiden liikkuvuutta ja näiden teknologioiden tuomista olemassa oleviin langattomien verkko-operaattorien verkkoinfrastruktuureihin. Käsiteltäviä verkkoinfrastruktuureita ei alun perin ole suunniteltu Internet-teknologian liikkuvuuden ja monien yhtäaikaisten yhteyksien ehdoilla. Tässä työssä ehdotetaan tulevaisuuden langattomien verkkojen arkkitehtuurimallia ja ratkaisuja verkkovierailujen toteuttamiseksi. Ehdotettu arkkitehtuuri voidaan toteuttaa ilman mittavia teknologisia mullistuksia. Mallin mukaisessa ehdotuksessa verkko-operaattorin roolit jaetaan selkeästi (i) verkko-operaattoriin, (ii) palveluoperaattoriin ja (iii) yhteys- sekä verkkovierailuoperaattoriin. Roolijako mahdollistaa sen, että kukin operaattorityyppi voi kehittyä itsenäisesti, ja että teennäiset verkkoteknologiasidonnaisuudet poistuvat palveluiden tuottamisessa. Työssä esitetään myös alustava vaatimuslista ehdotetulle mallille, esimerkiksi yhteysoperaattorien laatuvaatimukset. Väitöskirja esittelee myös liikkuvien Internet-teknologioiden viimeisimmän kehityksen. Työssä näytetään lisäksi standardointituloksia Internet-kykyisissä langattomissa arkkitehtuureissa

Analysis, design and experimental evaluation of connectivity management in heterogeneous wireless environments

Mención Internacional en el título de doctorThe future of network communications is mobile as many more users demand for ubiquitous connectivity. Wireless has become the primary access technology or even the only one, leading to an explosion in traffic demand. This challenges network providers to manage and configure new requirements without incrementing costs in the same amount. In addition to the growth in the use of mobile devices, there is a need to operate simultaneously different access technologies. As well, the great diversity of applications and the capabilities of mobile terminals makes possible for us to live in a hyper-connected world and offers new scenarios. This heterogeneity poses great challenges that need to be addressed to offer better performance and seamless experience to the final user. We need to orchestrate solutions to increase flexibility and empower interoperability. Connectivity management is handled from different angles. In the network stack, mobility is more easily handled by IP mobility protocols, since IP is the common layer between the different access technologies and the application diversity. From the end-user perspective, the connection manager is in charge of handling connectivity issues in mobile devices, but it is an unstandardized entity so its performance is heavily implementation-dependent. In this thesis we explore connectivity management from different angles. We study mobility protocols as they are part of our proposed solutions. In most of the cases we include an experimental evaluation of performance with 3G and IEEE 802.11 as the main technologies. We consider heterogeneous scenarios, with several access technologies where mobile devices have also several network interfaces. We evaluate how connectivity is handled as well as its influence in a handover. Based on the analysis of real traces from a cellular network, we confirm the suitability of more efficient mobility management. Moreover, we propose and evaluate three different solutions for providing mobility support in three different heterogeneous scenarios. We perform an experimental evaluation of a vehicular route optimization for network mobility, reporting on the challenges and lessons learned in such a complicated networking environment. We propose an architecture for supporting mobility and enhance handover in a passive optical network deployment. In addition, we design and deploy a mechanism for mobility management based on software-defined networking.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Ingeniería TelemáticaPresidente: Arturo Azcorra Saloña.- Secretario: Ramón Agüero Calvo.- Vocal: Daniel Nunes Coruj

Location Management in IP-based Future LEO Satellite Networks: A Review

Future integrated terrestrial, aerial, and space networks will involve thousands of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites forming a network of mega-constellations, which will play a significant role in providing communication and Internet services everywhere, at any time, and for everything. Due to its very large scale and highly dynamic nature, future LEO satellite networks (SatNets) management is a very complicated and crucial process, especially the mobility management aspect and its two components location management and handover management. In this article, we present a comprehensive and critical review of the state-of-the-art research in LEO SatNets location management. First, we give an overview of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) mobility management standards (e.g., Mobile IPv6 and Proxy Mobile IPv6) and discuss their location management techniques limitations in the environment of future LEO SatNets. We highlight future LEO SatNets mobility characteristics and their challenging features and describe two unprecedented future location management scenarios. A taxonomy of the available location management solutions for LEO SatNets is presented, where the solutions are classified into three approaches. The "Issues to consider" section draws attention to critical points related to each of the reviewed approaches that should be considered in future LEO SatNets location management. To identify the gaps, the current state of LEO SatNets location management is summarized. Noteworthy future research directions are recommended. This article is providing a road map for researchers and industry to shape the future of LEO SatNets location management.Comment: Submitted to the Proceedings of the IEE

Survey on PMIPv6-based Mobility Management Architectures for Software-Defined Networking

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has changed the network landscape. Meanwhile, IP-based mobility management still evolves, and SDN affects it dramatically. Integrating Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) – a network-based mobility management protocol – with the SDN paradigm has created several promising approaches. This paper will present an extensive survey on the joint research area of PMIPv6 and SDN mobility management by detailing the available SDN-integrated network-based techniques and architectures that intend to accelerate handover and mitigate service disruption of mobility events in softwareized telecommunication networks. The article also provides an overview of where PMIPv6 can be used and how SDN may help reach those ways

Enhanced mobility management mechanisms for 5G networks

Many mechanisms that served the legacy networks till now, are being identified as being grossly sub-optimal for 5G networks. The reason being, the increased complexity of the 5G networks compared previous legacy systems. One such class of mechanisms, important for any wireless standard, is the Mobility Management (MM) mechanisms. MM mechanismsensure the seamless connectivity and continuity of service for a user when it moves away from the geographic location where it initially got attached to the network. In this thesis, we firstly present a detailed state of the art on MM mechanisms. Based on the 5G requirements as well as the initial discussions on Beyond 5G networks, we provision a gap analysis for the current technologies/solutions to satisfy the presented requirements. We also define the persistent challenges that exist concerning MM mechanisms for 5G and beyond networks. Based on these challenges, we define the potential solutions and a novel framework for the 5G and beyond MM mechanisms. This framework specifies a set of MM mechanisms at the access, core and the extreme edge network (users/devices) level, that will help to satisfy the requirements for the 5G and beyond MM mechanisms. Following this, we present an on demand MM service concept. Such an on-demand feature provisions the necessary reliability, scalability and flexibility to the MM mechanisms. It's objective is to ensure that appropriate resources and mobility contexts are defined for users who will have heterogeneous mobility profiles, versatile QoS requirements in a multi-RAT network. Next, in this thesis we tackle the problem of core network signaling that occurs during MM in 5G/4G networks. A novel handover signaling mechanism has been developed, which eliminates unnecessary handshakes during the handover preparation phase, while allowing the transition to future softwarized network architectures. We also provide a handover failure aware handover preparation phase signaling process. We then utilize operator data and a realistic network deployment to perform a comparative analysis of the proposed strategy and the 3GPP handover signaling strategy on a network wide deployment scenario. We show the benefits of our strategy in terms of latency of handover process, and the transmission and processing cost incurred. Lastly, a novel user association and resource allocation methodology, namely AURA-5G, has been proposed. AURA-5G addresses scenarios wherein applications with heterogeneous requirements, i.e., enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC), are present simultaneously. Consequently, a joint optimization process for performing the user association and resource allocation while being cognizant of heterogeneous application requirements, has been performed. We capture the peculiarities of this important mobility management process through the various constraints, such as backhaul requirements, dual connectivity options, available access resources, minimum rate requirements, etc., that we have imposed on a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP). The objective function of this established MILP problem is to maximize the total network throughput of the eMBB users, while satisfying the minimum requirements of the mMTC and eMBB users defined in a given scenario. Through numerical evaluations we show that our approach outperforms the baseline user association scenario significantly. Moreover, we have presented a system fairness analysis, as well as a novel fidelity and computational complexity analysis for the same, which express the utility of our methodology given the myriad network scenarios.Muchos mecanismos que sirvieron en las redes actuales, se están identificando como extremadamente subóptimos para las redes 5G. Esto es debido a la mayor complejidad de las redes 5G. Un tipo de mecanismo importante para cualquier estándar inalámbrico, consiste en el mecanismo de gestión de la movilidad (MM). Los mecanismos MM aseguran la conectividad sin interrupciones y la continuidad del servicio para un usuario cuando éste se aleja de la ubicación geográfica donde inicialmente se conectó a la red. En esta tesis, presentamos, en primer lugar, un estado del arte detallado de los mecanismos MM. Bas ándonos en los requisitos de 5G, así como en las discusiones iniciales sobre las redes Beyond 5G, proporcionamos un análisis de las tecnologías/soluciones actuales para satisfacer los requisitos presentados. También definimos los desafíos persistentes que existen con respecto a los mecanismos MM para redes 5G y Beyond 5G. En base a estos desafíos, definimos las posibles soluciones y un marco novedoso para los mecanismos 5G y Beyond 5G de MM. Este marco especifica un conjunto de mecanismos MM a nivel de red acceso, red del núcleo y extremo de la red (usuarios/dispositivos), que ayudarán a satisfacer los requisitos para los mecanismos MM 5G y posteriores. A continuación, presentamos el concepto de servicio bajo demanda MM. Tal característica proporciona la confiabilidad, escalabilidad y flexibilidad necesarias para los mecanismos MM. Su objetivo es garantizar que se definan los recursos y contextos de movilidad adecuados para los usuarios que tendrán perfiles de movilidad heterogéneos, y requisitos de QoS versátiles en una red multi-RAT. Más adelante, abordamos el problema de la señalización de la red troncal que ocurre durante la gestión de la movilidad en redes 5G/4G. Se ha desarrollado un nuevo mecanismo de señalización de handover, que elimina los intercambios de mensajes innecesarios durante la fase de preparación del handover, al tiempo que permite la transición a futuras arquitecturas de red softwarizada. Utilizamos los datos de operadores y consideramos un despliegue de red realista para realizar un análisis comparativo de la estrategia propuesta y la estrategia de señalización de 3GPP. Mostramos los beneficios de nuestra estrategia en términos de latencia del proceso de handover y los costes de transmisión y procesado. Por último, se ha propuesto una nueva asociación de usuarios y una metodología de asignación de recursos, i.e, AURA-5G. AURA-5G aborda escenarios en los que las aplicaciones con requisitos heterogéneos, i.e., enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) y massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC), están presentes simultáneamente. En consecuencia, se ha llevado a cabo un proceso de optimización conjunta para realizar la asociación de usuarios y la asignación de recursos mientras se tienen en cuenta los requisitos de aplicaciónes heterogéneas. Capturamos las peculiaridades de este importante proceso de gestión de la movilidad a través de las diversas restricciones impuestas, como son los requisitos de backhaul, las opciones de conectividad dual, los recursos de la red de acceso disponibles, los requisitos de velocidad mínima, etc., que hemos introducido en un Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP). La función objetivo de este problema MILP es maximizar el rendimiento total de la red de los usuarios de eMBB, y a la vez satisfacer los requisitos mínimos de los usuarios de mMTC y eMBB definidos en un escenario dado. A través de evaluaciones numéricas, mostramos que nuestro enfoque supera significativamente el escenario de asociación de usuarios de referencia. Además, hemos presentado un análisis de la justicia del sistema, así como un novedoso análisis de fidelidad y complejidad computacional para el mismo, que expresa la utilidad de nuestra metodología

Enhanced mobility management mechanisms for 5G networks

Many mechanisms that served the legacy networks till now, are being identified as being grossly sub-optimal for 5G networks. The reason being, the increased complexity of the 5G networks compared previous legacy systems. One such class of mechanisms, important for any wireless standard, is the Mobility Management (MM) mechanisms. MM mechanismsensure the seamless connectivity and continuity of service for a user when it moves away from the geographic location where it initially got attached to the network. In this thesis, we firstly present a detailed state of the art on MM mechanisms. Based on the 5G requirements as well as the initial discussions on Beyond 5G networks, we provision a gap analysis for the current technologies/solutions to satisfy the presented requirements. We also define the persistent challenges that exist concerning MM mechanisms for 5G and beyond networks. Based on these challenges, we define the potential solutions and a novel framework for the 5G and beyond MM mechanisms. This framework specifies a set of MM mechanisms at the access, core and the extreme edge network (users/devices) level, that will help to satisfy the requirements for the 5G and beyond MM mechanisms. Following this, we present an on demand MM service concept. Such an on-demand feature provisions the necessary reliability, scalability and flexibility to the MM mechanisms. It's objective is to ensure that appropriate resources and mobility contexts are defined for users who will have heterogeneous mobility profiles, versatile QoS requirements in a multi-RAT network. Next, in this thesis we tackle the problem of core network signaling that occurs during MM in 5G/4G networks. A novel handover signaling mechanism has been developed, which eliminates unnecessary handshakes during the handover preparation phase, while allowing the transition to future softwarized network architectures. We also provide a handover failure aware handover preparation phase signaling process. We then utilize operator data and a realistic network deployment to perform a comparative analysis of the proposed strategy and the 3GPP handover signaling strategy on a network wide deployment scenario. We show the benefits of our strategy in terms of latency of handover process, and the transmission and processing cost incurred. Lastly, a novel user association and resource allocation methodology, namely AURA-5G, has been proposed. AURA-5G addresses scenarios wherein applications with heterogeneous requirements, i.e., enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC), are present simultaneously. Consequently, a joint optimization process for performing the user association and resource allocation while being cognizant of heterogeneous application requirements, has been performed. We capture the peculiarities of this important mobility management process through the various constraints, such as backhaul requirements, dual connectivity options, available access resources, minimum rate requirements, etc., that we have imposed on a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP). The objective function of this established MILP problem is to maximize the total network throughput of the eMBB users, while satisfying the minimum requirements of the mMTC and eMBB users defined in a given scenario. Through numerical evaluations we show that our approach outperforms the baseline user association scenario significantly. Moreover, we have presented a system fairness analysis, as well as a novel fidelity and computational complexity analysis for the same, which express the utility of our methodology given the myriad network scenarios.Muchos mecanismos que sirvieron en las redes actuales, se están identificando como extremadamente subóptimos para las redes 5G. Esto es debido a la mayor complejidad de las redes 5G. Un tipo de mecanismo importante para cualquier estándar inalámbrico, consiste en el mecanismo de gestión de la movilidad (MM). Los mecanismos MM aseguran la conectividad sin interrupciones y la continuidad del servicio para un usuario cuando éste se aleja de la ubicación geográfica donde inicialmente se conectó a la red. En esta tesis, presentamos, en primer lugar, un estado del arte detallado de los mecanismos MM. Bas ándonos en los requisitos de 5G, así como en las discusiones iniciales sobre las redes Beyond 5G, proporcionamos un análisis de las tecnologías/soluciones actuales para satisfacer los requisitos presentados. También definimos los desafíos persistentes que existen con respecto a los mecanismos MM para redes 5G y Beyond 5G. En base a estos desafíos, definimos las posibles soluciones y un marco novedoso para los mecanismos 5G y Beyond 5G de MM. Este marco especifica un conjunto de mecanismos MM a nivel de red acceso, red del núcleo y extremo de la red (usuarios/dispositivos), que ayudarán a satisfacer los requisitos para los mecanismos MM 5G y posteriores. A continuación, presentamos el concepto de servicio bajo demanda MM. Tal característica proporciona la confiabilidad, escalabilidad y flexibilidad necesarias para los mecanismos MM. Su objetivo es garantizar que se definan los recursos y contextos de movilidad adecuados para los usuarios que tendrán perfiles de movilidad heterogéneos, y requisitos de QoS versátiles en una red multi-RAT. Más adelante, abordamos el problema de la señalización de la red troncal que ocurre durante la gestión de la movilidad en redes 5G/4G. Se ha desarrollado un nuevo mecanismo de señalización de handover, que elimina los intercambios de mensajes innecesarios durante la fase de preparación del handover, al tiempo que permite la transición a futuras arquitecturas de red softwarizada. Utilizamos los datos de operadores y consideramos un despliegue de red realista para realizar un análisis comparativo de la estrategia propuesta y la estrategia de señalización de 3GPP. Mostramos los beneficios de nuestra estrategia en términos de latencia del proceso de handover y los costes de transmisión y procesado. Por último, se ha propuesto una nueva asociación de usuarios y una metodología de asignación de recursos, i.e, AURA-5G. AURA-5G aborda escenarios en los que las aplicaciones con requisitos heterogéneos, i.e., enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) y massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC), están presentes simultáneamente. En consecuencia, se ha llevado a cabo un proceso de optimización conjunta para realizar la asociación de usuarios y la asignación de recursos mientras se tienen en cuenta los requisitos de aplicaciónes heterogéneas. Capturamos las peculiaridades de este importante proceso de gestión de la movilidad a través de las diversas restricciones impuestas, como son los requisitos de backhaul, las opciones de conectividad dual, los recursos de la red de acceso disponibles, los requisitos de velocidad mínima, etc., que hemos introducido en un Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP). La función objetivo de este problema MILP es maximizar el rendimiento total de la red de los usuarios de eMBB, y a la vez satisfacer los requisitos mínimos de los usuarios de mMTC y eMBB definidos en un escenario dado. A través de evaluaciones numéricas, mostramos que nuestro enfoque supera significativamente el escenario de asociación de usuarios de referencia. Además, hemos presentado un análisis de la justicia del sistema, así como un novedoso análisis de fidelidad y complejidad computacional para el mismo, que expresa la utilidad de nuestra metodología.Postprint (published version