IEEE 802.11 networks with dormant mode support

Abstract

IEEE802.11 networks are changing its primary role of extension of private LANs to become an access technology in competition or collaboration with current cellular networks. In addition, largescale IEEE802.11 deployments are a reality that mesh networks can contribute to expand. But not only, networks are changing; their users are doing the same. More portable devices as WiFi enabled PDAs or phones will allow an increase of their number and mobility, but suffering from severe battery constraints. In addition, the interest in VoIP over WLAN will introduce the need of establishing sessions to WLAN users and not only from them. In order to support similar conditions, current cellular systems make use of a dormant mode with paging support which is inexistent in the IEEE802.11 networks. In this paper we propose the introduction of IP paging in IEEE802.11 networks in order to solve this problem. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the usability of IP paging in order to reduce the mobility signaling cost. This is achieved through a new analytical approach that evaluates the following parameters: the call-to-mobility ratio (CMR), the size of the radio access network (RAN) and the size of the paging area. The solutions analyzed are the Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6) protocol and a new extended version of this with IP paging support. The novelty of this latter version lies in its use of distance-based dynamic paging areas and its specific design for IEEE802.11 networks.