Network-based IP flow mobility support in 3GPPs evolved packet core

Includes bibliographical references.Mobile data traffic in cellular networks has increased tremendously in the last few years. Due to the costs associated with licensed spectrum, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are battling to manage these increased traffic growths. Offloading mobile data traffic to alternative low cost access networks like Wi-Fi has been proposed as a candidate solution to enable MNOs to alleviate congestion from the cellular networks. This dissertation investigates an offloading technique called IP flow mobility within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) all-IP mobile core network, the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). IP flow mobility would enable offloading a subset of the mobile user‟s traffic to an alternative access network while allowing the rest of the end-user‟s traffic to be kept in the cellular access; this way, traffic with stringent quality of service requirements like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would not experience service disruption or interruption when offloaded. This technique is different from previous offloading techniques where all the end-user‟s traffic is offloaded. IP flow mobility functionality can be realised with either host- or network-based mobility protocols. The recommended IP flow mobility standard of 3GPP is based on the host-based mobility solution, Dual-Stack Mobile IPv6. However, host-based mobility solutions have drawbacks like long handover latencies and produce signaling overhead in the radio access networks, which could be less appealing to MNOs. Network-based mobility solutions, compared to the host-based mobility solutions, have reduced handover latencies with no signaling overhead occurring in the radio access network. Proxy Mobile IPv6 is a networkbased mobility protocol adapted by 3GPP for mobility in the EPC. However, the standardisation of the Proxy Mobile IPv6-based IP flow mobility functionality is still ongoing within 3GPP. A review of related literature and standardisation efforts reveals shortcomings with the Proxy Mobile IPv6 mobility protocol in supporting IP flow mobility. Proxy Mobile IPv6 does not have a mechanism that would ensure session continuity during IP flow handoffs or a mechanism enabling controlling of the forwarding path of a particular IP flow i.e., specifying the access network for the IP flow. The latter mechanism is referred to as IP flow information management and flow-based routing. These mechanisms represent the basis for enabling the IP flow mobility functionality. To address the shortcomings of Proxy Mobile IPv6, this dissertation proposes vi enhancements to the protocol procedures to enable the two mechanisms for IP flow mobility functionality. The proposed enhancements for the session continuity mechanism draw on work in related literature and the proposed enhancements for the IP flow information management and flow-based routing mechanism are based on the concepts used in the Dual- Stack Mobile IPv6 IP flow mobility functionality. Together the two mechanisms allow the end-user to issue requests on what access network a particular IP flow should be routed, and ensure that the IP flows are moved to the particular access network without session discontinuity

Simultaneous multi-access in heterogeneous mobile networks

The exponential growth of the number of multihomed mobile devices is changing the way how we connect to the Internet. Unfortunately, it is not yet easily possible to a multihomed device to be simultaneously connected to the network through multiple links. This work enhances the network access of multihomed devices. This enhancement is achieved by using simultaneously all of the mobile devices interfaces, and by individually routing each data flow through the most adequate technology. The proposed solution is only deployed at the network core and it does not depend on the mobile devices, i.e., it’s transparent to the mobile devices. This work gives the necessary tools to reuse the already deployed technologies like WiFi or 3G/LTE. Moreover, it is also possible to extend the network by using femtocells which support multi access technologies. This work is also integrated with IEEE 802.21 standard to improve the handover mechanisms in the network. Additionally, we also propose an integration with a broker that can manage all the data flows individually. The proposed solution improves the quality of service of the users while not overloading the operator infrastructure. Evaluation results, obtained from the developed prototype, evidence that the overhead for using the proposed solution is very small when compared to the advantages.O crescimento exponencial do número de equipamentos móveis com múltiplas tecnologias de acesso à rede está a mudar a maneira como nos ligamos à Internet. Infelizmente, ainda não é possível usar simultaneamente todas as interfaces de rede de um equipamento móvel. Este trabalho melhora o acesso à rede a partir de dispositivos móveis com múltiplas interfaces de rede. Para alcançar esta melhoria todas as interfaces de rede dos dispositivos móveis podem ser usadas simultaneamente, e os fluxos de tráfego são encaminhados individualmente através da tecnologia mais conveniente. A solução proposta apenas é instalada na rede core, ou seja, é transparente para os equipamentos móveis. Este trabalho desenvolveu as ferramentas necessárias para reutilizar as tecnologias existentes que já estão disponíveis em larga escala, como o WiFi ou o 3G/LTE. É também possível usar femto-­células com suporte a múltiplas tecnologias de acesso para expandir mais rapidamente a rede. Este trabalho criou também uma integração com a norma IEEE 802.21 para melhorar os processos de handover. Adicionalmente propomos a integração com um broker externo para uma melhor gestão dos fluxos de tráfego. A solução proposta melhora a qualidade de serviço dos utilizadores sem sobrecarregar a infra-­estrutura do operador. Os resultados obtidos a partir dos testes realizados ao protótipo desenvolvido mostram que o impacto na performance ao usar esta solução é extremamente reduzido quando comparado com as suas vantagens

Enhancing PMIPv6 for Better Handover Performance among Heterogeneous Wireless Networks in a Micromobility Domain

This paper analyzes the reduction of handover delay in a network-based localized mobility management framework assisted by IEEE 802.21 MIH services. It compares the handover signaling procedures with host-based localized MIPv6 (HMIPv6), with network-based localized MIPv6 (PMIPv6), and with PMIPv6 assisted by IEEE 802.21 to show how much handover delay reduction can be achieved. Furthermore, the paper proposes and gives an in-depth analysis of PMIPv6 optimized with a handover coordinator (HC), which is a network-based entity, to further improve handover performance in terms of handover delay and packet loss while maintaining minimal signaling overhead in the air interface among converged heterogeneous wireless networks. Simulation and analytical results show that indeed handover delay and packet loss are reduced

Sensor Proxy Mobile IPv6 (SPMIPv6)—A Novel Scheme for Mobility Supported IP-WSNs

IP based Wireless Sensor Networks (IP-WSNs) are gaining importance for their broad range of applications in health-care, home automation, environmental monitoring, industrial control, vehicle telematics and agricultural monitoring. In all these applications, mobility in the sensor network with special attention to energy efficiency is a major issue to be addressed. Host-based mobility management protocols are not suitable for IP-WSNs because of their energy inefficiency, so network based mobility management protocols can be an alternative for the mobility supported IP-WSNs. In this paper we propose a network based mobility supported IP-WSN protocol called Sensor Proxy Mobile IPv6 (SPMIPv6). We present its architecture, message formats and also evaluate its performance considering signaling cost, mobility cost and energy consumption. Our analysis shows that with respect to the number of IP-WSN nodes, the proposed scheme reduces the signaling cost by 60% and 56%, as well as the mobility cost by 62% and 57%, compared to MIPv6 and PMIPv6, respectively. The simulation results also show that in terms of the number of hops, SPMIPv6 decreases the signaling cost by 56% and 53% as well as mobility cost by 60% and 67% as compared to MIPv6 and PMIPv6 respectively. It also indicates that proposed scheme reduces the level of energy consumption significantly

A Survey on Proxy Mobile IPv6 Handover

[EN] As wireless technologies have been improving in recent years, a mobility management mechanism is required to provide seamless and ubiquitous mobility for end users who are roaming among points of attachment in wireless networks. Thus, Mobile IPv6 was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to support the mobility service. However, Mobile IPv6 is unable to fulfill the requirements of real-time applications, such as video streaming service and voice over IP service, due to its high handover (HO) latency. To address this problem, Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) has been introduced by the IETF. In PMIPv6, which is a network-based approach, the serving network controls mobility management on behalf of the mobile node (MN). Thus, the MN is not required to participate in any mobility-related signaling. However, the PMIPv6 still suffers from lengthy HO latency and packet loss during a HO. This paper explores an elaborated survey on the HO procedure of PMIPv6 protocols and proposed approaches accompanied by a discussion about their points of weakness.This work was supported in part by the University of Malaya under UMRG Grant (RG080/11ICT).Modares, H.; Moravejosharieh, A.; Lloret, J.; Salleh, R. (2016). A Survey on Proxy Mobile IPv6 Handover. IEEE Systems Journal. 10(1):208-217. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSYST.2013.2297705S20821710