4 research outputs found
Network-Assisted Handover for Heterogeneous Wireless Networks using IEEE 802.21
The IEEE 802.21 is a standard for enabling handover in heterogeneous wireless networks. Published in January 2009, it defines protocols and messages for mobile-to-node and node-to-node communication in a technology-neutral and flexible manner. The need arises because of the widespread diffusion of different technologies for wireless communications (e.g., WiFi, WiMAX, LTE) coexisting in the same geographical area. Even though the number of multi-radio multi-technology mobile devices is increasing significantly, there are no open solutions in the market to enable efficient inter-technology handover.
As is often the case with communication standards, the structure of the required components, the procedures, and the algorithms are left unspecified by the IEEE 802.21 standard so as to promote competion by differentiation of equipment capabilities and services. The contribution of this thesis is two-fold: i) a design and an implemenation of the Media Independent Information Service (MIIS) server; and, ii) a solution to enable network-assisted handover using the IEEE 802.21 standard, aimed at reducing the handover latency and the energy consumption of mobile devices due to scanning.
The MIIS server has been fully implemented in C++ under Linux. In order to perform testbed evaluations, all the required components have been implemented, as well, within an open source framework for IEEE 802.21 called ODTONE. Modifications to the latter have been performed for optimization and fine tuning, and for extending those functional modules needed but not fully implemented.
For a realistic evaluation, Linux-based embedded COTS devices have been used, equipped with multiple IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11g wireless network interface cards. This has required additional development for kernel/user space binding and hardware control.
Testbed results are reported to show the effectiveness of the proposed solution, also proving the MIIS server scalability
Acesso banda larga sem fios em ambientes heterogéneos de próxima geração
Doutoramento em Engenharia InformáticaO acesso ubíquo à Internet é um dos principais desafios para os operadores
de telecomunicações na próxima década. O número de utilizadores da Internet
está a crescer exponencialmente e o paradigma de acesso "always connected,
anytime, anywhere" é um requisito fundamental para as redes móveis de
próxima geração. A tecnologia WiMAX, juntamente com o LTE, foi
recentemente reconhecida pelo ITU como uma das tecnologias de acesso
compatíveis com os requisitos do 4G. Ainda assim, esta tecnologia de acesso
não está completamente preparada para ambientes de próxima geração,
principalmente devido à falta de mecanismos de cross-layer para integração de
QoS e mobilidade. Adicionalmente, para além das tecnologias WiMAX e LTE,
as tecnologias de acesso rádio UMTS/HSPA e Wi-Fi continuarão a ter um
impacto significativo nas comunicações móveis durante os próximos anos.
Deste modo, é fundamental garantir a coexistência das várias tecnologias de
acesso rádio em termos de QoS e mobilidade, permitindo assim a entrega de
serviços multimédia de tempo real em redes móveis.
Para garantir a entrega de serviços multimédia a utilizadores WiMAX, esta
Tese propõe um gestor cross-layer WiMAX integrado com uma arquitectura de
QoS fim-a-fim. A arquitectura apresentada permite o controlo de QoS e a
comunicação bidireccional entre o sistema WiMAX e as entidades das
camadas superiores. Para além disso, o gestor de cross-layer proposto é
estendido com eventos e comandos genéricos e independentes da tecnologia
para optimizar os procedimentos de mobilidade em ambientes WiMAX. Foram
realizados testes para avaliar o desempenho dos procedimentos de QoS e
mobilidade da arquitectura WiMAX definida, demonstrando que esta é
perfeitamente capaz de entregar serviços de tempo real sem introduzir custos
excessivos na rede.
No seguimento das extensões de QoS e mobilidade apresentadas para a
tecnologia WiMAX, o âmbito desta Tese foi alargado para ambientes de
acesso sem-fios heterogéneos. Neste sentido, é proposta uma arquitectura de
mobilidade transparente com suporte de QoS para redes de acesso multitecnologia.
A arquitectura apresentada integra uma versão estendida do IEEE
802.21 com suporte de QoS, bem como um gestor de mobilidade avançado
integrado com os protocolos de gestão de mobilidade do nível IP. Finalmente,
para completar o trabalho desenvolvido no âmbito desta Tese, é proposta uma
extensão aos procedimentos de decisão de mobilidade em ambientes
heterogéneos para incorporar a informação de contexto da rede e do terminal.
Para validar e avaliar as optimizações propostas, foram desenvolvidos testes
de desempenho num demonstrador inter-tecnologia, composta pelas redes de
acesso WiMAX, Wi-Fi e UMTS/HSPA.Ubiquitous Internet access is one of the main challenges for the
telecommunications industry in the next decade. The number of users
accessing the Internet is growing exponentially and the network access
paradigm of “always connected, anytime, anywhere” is a central requirement
for the so-called Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN). WiMAX, together
with LTE, was recently recognized by ITU as one of the compliant access
technologies for 4G. Nevertheless, WiMAX is not yet fully prepared for next
generation environments, mainly due to the lack of QoS and mobility crosslayer
procedures to support real-time multimedia services delivery.
Furthermore, besides the 4G compliant WiMAX and LTE radio access
technologies, UMTS/HSPA and Wi-Fi will also have a significant impact in the
mobile communications during the next years. Therefore, it is fundamental to
ensure the coexistence of multiple radio access technologies in what QoS and
mobility procedures are concerned, thereby allowing the delivery of real-time
services in mobile networks.
In order to provide the WiMAX mobile users with the demanded multimedia
services, it is proposed in this Thesis a WiMAX cross-layer manager integrated
in an end-to-end all-IP QoS enabled architecture. The presented framework
enables the QoS control and bidirectional communication between WiMAX and
the upper layer network entities. Furthermore, the proposed cross-layer
framework is extended with media independent events and commands to
optimize the mobility procedures in WiMAX environments. Tests were made to
evaluate the QoS and mobility performance of the defined architecture,
demonstrating that it is perfectly capable of handling and supporting real time
services without introducing an excessive cost in the network.
Following the QoS and mobility extensions provided for WiMAX, the scope of
this Thesis is broaden and a seamless mobility architecture with QoS support in
heterogeneous wireless access environments is proposed. The presented
architecture integrates an extended version of the IEEE 802.21 framework with
QoS support, as well as an advanced mobility manager integrated with the IP
level mobility management protocols. Finally, to complete the work within the
framework of this Thesis, it is proposed an extension to the handover decisionmaking
processes in heterogeneous access environments through the
integration of context information from both the network entities and the enduser.
Performance tests were developed in a real testbed to validate the
proposed optimizations in an inter-technology handover scenario involving
WiMAX, Wi-Fi and UMTS/HSPA