Mobility management: deployment and adaptability aspects through mobile data traffic analysis

The expected boost in mobile data traffic and the evolution towards the next generation of networks are making cellular operators reconsider whether current approaches for handling mobility could be improved, according to the characteristics of the mobile traffic that actually flows through real networks. In this work, we make use of extensive analysis of real network traces to infer the main characteristics of mobile data traffic for a particular operator. Our analysis focuses on the features related to mobility, i.e., location information, number of handovers, or duration of the data traffic exchange. New techniques to gather the mobility characteristics of the user based on data and control packets correlation are designed and applied to compare the gains of deploying different mobility management approaches.The research leading to these results has received funding from the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement 318115 (Connectivity management for eneRgy Op- timised Wireless Dense networks, CROWD). The work of Antonio de la Oliva has also been funded by the EU H2020 5G-Crosshaul Project (grant no. 671598)

A Dynamic IP Paging Algorithm based on the Velocity of Mobile Node for Proxy Mobile IPv6

Significant IP mobility mechanisms have been designed to minimize the handover overhead of mobile nodes. Although many efficient algorithms such as Mobile IP, HMIP and PMIP have been proposed, they did not attempt to upgrade their paging mechanisms that also heavily affect the power consumption of mobile nodes. Considering a good paging scheme is important because more than 95% of mobile nodes are moving in the idle state and change their states to active only for paging area updates. However, existing paging schemes assume the configuration of fixed paging areas and do not explore the dynamic nature of a paging area size depending on the states of mobile nodes. In this paper, we propose a novel dynamic IP paging scheme, where a paging area size is configured dynamically based on the speed and direction of a mobile node. The performance evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed IP paging scheme reduces the power consumption, compared to a fixed IP paging scheme.This work was supported by Basic Science Research Programs through the National Research Foundation by Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2012-0002490)

End-to-end Mobile Network Slicing

Wireless networks have gone through several years of evolution until now and will continue to do so in order to cater for the varying needs of its users. These demands are expected to continue to grow even more in the future, both in size and variability. Hence, the 5G technology needs to consider these variabilities in service demands and potential data explosion which could accompany users’ demands at the core of its architecture. For 5G mobile network to handle these foreseen challenges, network slicing \cite{c13} is seen as a potential path to tread as its standardization is progressing. In light of the proposed 5G network architecture and to support and end-to-end mobile network slicing, we implemented radio access network (RAN) slicing over a virtualized evolved Node B (eNodeB) and ensured multiple core network slices could communicate through it successfully. Our results, challenges and further research path are presented in this thesis report

Integration of LoRa Wide Area Network with the 5G Test Network

Abstract. The global communication network is going through major transformation from conventional to more versatile and diversified network approaches. With the advent of virtualization and cloud technology, information technology (IT) is merging with telecommunications to alter the conventional approaches of traditional proprietary networking techniques. From radio to network and applications, the existing infrastructure lacks several features that we wished to be part of 5th Generation Mobile Networks (5G). Having a support for large number of applications, Internet of Things (IoT) will bring a major evolution by creating a comfortable, flexible and an automated environment for end users. A network having the capability to support radio protocols on top of basic networking protocols, when blended with a platform which can generate IoT use cases, can make the expectations of 5G a reality. Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies can be utilized with other emerging and suitable technologies for IoT applications. To implement a network where all the technologies can be deployed virtually to serve their applications within a single cloud, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Network (SDN) is introduced to implement such a networking possibility for upcoming technologies. The 5G Test Network (5GTN), a testbed for implementing and testing 5G features in real time, is deployed in virtual platform which allows to add other technologies for IoT applications. To implement a network with an IoT enabler technology, LoRa Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) technology can be integrated to test the feasibility and capability of IoT implications. LoRaWAN being an IoT enabler technology is chosen out of several possibilities to be integrated with the 5GTN. Using MultiConnect Conduit as a gateway, the integration is realized by establishing point to point protocol (PPP) connection with eNodeB. Once the connection is established, LoRa packets are forwarded to the ThingWorx IoT cloud and responses can be received by the end-devices from that IoT cloud by using Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol. Wireshark, an open source packet analyser, is then used to ensure successful transmission of packets to the ThingWorx using the 5GTN default packet routes

Context awareness and related challenges: A comprehensive evaluation study for a context-based RAT selection scheme towards 5G networks

Ο αποτελεσματικός σχεδιασμός των δικτύων είναι απαραίτητος για να αντιμετωπιστεί ο αυξανόμενος αριθμός των συνδρομητών κινητού διαδικτύου και των απαιτητικών υπηρεσιών δεδομένων, που ανταγωνίζονται για περιορισμένους ασύρματους πόρους. Επιπλέον, οι βασικές προκλήσεις για τα συνεχώς αναπτυσσόμενα δίκτυα LTE είναι η αύξηση των δυνατοτήτων των υφιστάμενων μηχανισμών, η μείωση της υπερβολικής σηματοδότησης (signaling) και η αξιοποίηση ενός αποτελεσματικού μηχανισμού επιλογής τεχνολογίας ασύρματης πρόσβασης (RAT). Υπάρχουν ποικίλες προτάσεις στην βιβλιογραφία σχετικά με αυτές τις προκλήσεις, μερικές από τις οποίες παρουσιάζονται εδώ. Ο σκοπός της εργασίας αυτής είναι να ερευνήσει τις τρέχουσες εξελίξεις στα δίκτυα LTE σχετικά με την ενσωμάτωση EPC και WiFi και την επίγνωση πλαισίου (context awareness) στην διαχείριση κινητικότητας, και να προτείνει τον αλγόριθμο COmpAsS, έναν μηχανισμό που χρησιμοποιεί ασαφή λογική (fuzzy logic) για να επιλέξει την πιο κατάλληλη τεχνολογία ασύρματης πρόσβασης για τα κινητά. Επιπλέον, έχουμε ποσοτικοποιήσει το κόστος σηματοδότησης του προτεινόμενου μηχανισμού σε σύνδεση με τις σημερινές προδιαγραφές του 3GPP και εκτελέσαμε μια ολοκληρωμένη ανάλυση. Τέλος, αξιολογήσαμε τον αλγόριθμο μέσω εκτεταμένων προσομοιώσεων σε ένα πολύπλοκο και ρεαλιστικό σενάριο χρήσης 5G, που απεικονίζονται τα σαφή πλεονεκτήματα της προσέγγισής μας όσον αφορά τη συχνότητα μεταπομπών (handover) και τις μετρήσεις βασικών QoS τιμών, όπως ρυθμός μετάδοσης και καθυστέρηση.Effective network planning is essential to cope with the increasing number of mobile internet subscribers and bandwidth-intensive services competing for limited wireless resources. Additionally, key challenges for the constantly growing LTE networks is increasing capabilities of current mechanisms, reduction of signaling overhead and the utilization of an effective Radio Access Technology (RAT) selection scheme. There have been various proposals in literature regarding these challenges, some of which are discussed here. The purpose of this work is to research the current advances in LTE networks regarding EPC - WiFi integration and context awareness in mobility management, and propose the COmpAsS algorithm, a mechanism using fuzzy logic to select the most suitable Radio Access Technology. Furthermore, we quantify the signaling overhead of the proposed mechanism by linking it to the current 3GPP specifications and performing a comprehensive analysis. Finally, we evaluate the novel scheme via extensive simulations in a complex and realistic 5G use case, illustrating the clear advantages of our approach in terms of handover frequency and key QoS metrics, i.e. the user-experienced throughput and delay

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

OpenEPC Integration within 5GTN as an NFV proof of concept

Abstract. Gone are the days, when a hardware is changed on every malfunctioning and the whole operation either stays down or load on the replacing hardware becomes too much which ultimately compromises the QoS. The IT industry is mature enough to tackle problems regarding scalability, space utilization, energy consumption, cost, agility and low availability. The expected throughput and network latency with 5G in the cellular Telecommunication Networks seems to be unachievable with the existing architecture and resources. Network Function Virtualization promises to merge IT and Telecommunications in such an efficient way that the expected results could be achieved no longer but sooner. The thesis work examines the compatibility and flexibility of a 3GPP virtual core network in a virtualization platform. The testbed is established on an LTE (Long Term Evolution) based network being already deployed and OpenEPC is added as virtual core network on it. The integration of OpenEPC in 5GTN (5TH Generation Test Network) is discussed in details in the thesis which will give an account of the possibility of implementing such a simulated vEPC (Virtual Evolved Packet Core) in a real network platform. The deployed setup is tested to check its feasibility and flexibility for a platform which could be used for NFV deployment in future. The monitoring of OpenEPC’s individual components while utilizing the major resources within them, forms the primary performance test. The CPU Load and Memory Utilization is tested on different CPU stress levels having a constant data traffic from actual UEs. At the completion of the thesis work, a consensus is built up based on the test results that the test setup can hold number of subscribers to a certain amount without any performance degradation. Moreover, the virtual core network throughput and network latency is also compared to the commercial LTE networks and theoretical maximum values on similar resources to check performance consistency OpenEPC must offer

Distributed Mobility Management for Future 5G Networks: Overview and Analysis of Existing Approaches

The ever-increasing demand of mobile Internet traffic is pushing operators to look for solutions to increase the available bandwidth per user and per unit of area. At the same time, they need to reduce the load in the core network at a reasonable cost in their future 5G deployments. Today's trend points to the deployment of extremely dense networks in order to provide ubiquitous connectivity at high data rates. However, this is hard to couple with the current mobile networks' architecture, which is heavily centralized, posing difficult challenges when coping with the foreseen explosion of mobile data. Additionally, future 5G networks will exhibit disparate types of services, posing different connectivity requirements. Distributed mobility management is emerging as a valid framework to design future mobile network architectures, taking into account the requirements for large traffic in the core and the rise of extremely dense wireless access networks. In this article, we discuss the adoption of a distributed mobility management approach for mobile networks, and analyze the operation of the main existing solutions proposed so far, including a first practical evaluation based on experiments with real Linux-based prototype implementations.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Program FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement 317941-project iJOIN. The European Union and its agencies are not liable or otherwise responsible for the con tents of this document; its content reflects the view of its authors only.Publicad

Distributed mobility management solutions for next mobile network architectures

The architecture of current operator infrastructures is being challenged by the non-stopping growing demand of data hungry services appearing every day. While currently deployed operator networks have been able to cope with traffic demands so far, the architectures for the 5th generation of mobile networks (5G) are expected to support unprecedented traffic loads while decreasing costs associated to the network deployment and operations. Distributed Mobility Management (DMM) helps going into this direction, by flattening the network, hence improving its scalability, and enabling local access to the Internet and other communication services, like mobile-edge clouds. Initial proposals have been based on extending existing IP mobility protocols, such as Mobile IPv6 and Proxy Mobile IPv6, but these need to further evolve to comply with the requirements of future networks, which include, among others, higher flexibility. Software Defined Networking (SDN) appears as a powerful tool for operators looking forward to increased flexibility and reduced costs. In this article, we first propose a Proxy Mobile IPv6 based DMM solution which serves as a baseline for exploring the evolution of DMM towards SDN, including the identification of DMM design principles and challenges. Based on this investigation, we propose a SDN-based DMM solution which is evaluated against our baseline from analytic and experimental viewpoints.This work has been funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme under the grant agreement no. 671598 “5GCrosshaul: the 5G integrated fronthaul/backhaul”