A novel architecture of Proxy‐LMA mobility management scheme for software‐based smart factory networking

Abstract

Summary Mobile users expect a network service, in which seamless handoff occurs while moving on a next generation wireless network. In addition, in smart factories (SFs), communication is required between factory floor and manufacturing zone, as well as connectivity towards office IT, or remote production facilities that are connected via wide area network or internet. For this purpose, interworking between heterogeneous networks is important, but there has been little research on global mobility support. Therefore, this paper proposes Proxy‐LMA technology, a mobile IP‐based global internetworking system, to improve global mobility and interoperability in the SFs network environment. The purpose of the proposed Proxy‐LMA system is to support global mobility by using mobility management protocols such as PMIPv6 and MIPv6 in heterogeneous network environment. As a result of the performance evaluation, Proxy‐LMA system is more efficient than other methods in terms of signaling cost and response delay in heterogeneous network environment. Software‐based networking in SFs enables them to easily adapt the communication network to changing requirements. Similar to cloud‐based systems, such SFs could be seen as production clusters that could be rented and configured as needed. The SF network uses software‐defined networking combined with network functions virtualization, to achieve the required flexibility. Despite the fact that the technology is nowadays not yet ready for deployment in today's manufacturing networks, a novel network architecture for SFs based on software‐defined networking and network virtualization is here proposed, to support smart services, especially for Industrie 4.0.