Broadband-Facilitated Inter-WLAN Mobility Architecture

Abstract

The existing WLAN architecture does not have the capabilities to leverage the wired and wireless broadband-accessed network control for the Inter-WLAN mobility. This paper presents a broadband-facilitated inter-WLAN mobility system architecture including its realization with the wired and wireless broadband-accessed network control for the WLAN mobility management. The proposed broadband-based inter-WLAN mobility management concept has changed the notion of the traditional WLAN mobility. Secondly, an implementation of the distribution system with broadband-accessed central network control for the IEEE 802.11 inter-WLAN mobility along with its management protocol is presented. In addition, this paper provides the modification to the enhanced IAPP protocol signaling messaging required for the broadband-facilitated WLAN mobility management. Finally, simulation experimental results for the proposed inter-WLAN communications architecture's performance vs. WLAN mobility management performance employing standard and optimized MIP are presented. We believe that the proposed architecture would greatly enhance the Inter-WLAN IP mobility performance. This paper serves as a foundation work for future research in inter-WLAN mobility management using broadband, wired and wireless that integrates high-speed wide area network and WLANs.

Gateway performance for network‐controlled WLAN IP mobility

“…Both analytical and simulation results show that WIP handoff message processing delay at WIP GW has negligible impact on the overall system delay. The paper compliments the previous works published [1,[3][4][5].…”

“…With the increase of HO frequency, the processing task is increased, as seen from Equation (1). If the GW's capacity is not scaled accordingly or the traffic is not treated with some other means accordingly (e.g.…”

“…Maleej and Farikha [20] provide details on these three types handoff. In these CIP handoff schemes, the CIP GW is involved only in micro-mobility, unlike a WIP GW that supports both micro-and macro-mobility [1]. This is the fundamental difference between the CIP GW and WIP GW.…”

“…Here, 'always on' refers to the broadband (such as DSL or cable access) network pre-provisioned connection where there is no separate session establishment phase needed. With an appropriate GW control mechanism, it is possible to detect the loss of connectivity to the control point of the first WLAN and establish a connection to the next available control point of a different WLAN over the broadband access network [1]. Reference [2] provides a network-controlled architecture and suggests the use of a network control for WLAN IP (WIP) mobility, but it does not provide any specific network service control functionalities, such as handoff control messages in the network layer, using a GW.…”

“…The GW in WIP has all the required intelligence to support mobility management, including location management needed in micro-and macro-mobility and route translations [1] of IP packets, unlike other wireless mobility GWs, such as cellular IP (CIP) GWs.…”