Adaptive, distributed location management in mobile, wireless networks

Some observations on using meta-heuristics for efficient location management in mobile computing networks

Location management schemes are essentially based on users' mobility and incoming call rate characteristics. The network mobility process has to face strong antagonism between its two basic procedures: location update (or registration) and paging. The location update procedure allows the system to keep location knowledge more or less accurately in order to find the user in case of an incoming call, for example. Location registration also is used to bring the user's service profile near its location and allows the network to rapidly provide the user with services. The paging process achieved by the system consists of sending paging messages in all cells where the mobile terminal could be located. A detailed description of the means and techniques for user location management in present cellular networks is addressed.A network must retain information about the locations of endpoints in the network in order to route traffic to the correct destinations. Location tracking (also referred to as mobility tracking or mobility management) is the set of mechanisms by which location information is updated in response to endpoint mobility. In location tracking, it is important to differentiate between the identifier of an endpoint (i.e., what the endpoint is called) and its address (i.e., where the endpoint is located). Mechanisms for location tracking provide a time-varying mapping between the identifier and the address of each endpoint. Most location tracking mechanisms may be perceived as updating and querying a distributed database (the location database) of endpoint identifier-to-address mappings. In this context, location tracking has two components: (1) determining when and how a change in a location database entry should be initiated; and (2) organizing and maintaining the location database. In cellular networks, endpoint mobility within a cell is transparent to the network, and hence location tracking is only required when an endpoint moves from one cell to another. Location tracking typically consists of two operations: (1) updating (or registration), the process by which a mobile endpoint initiates a change in the location database according to its new location; and (2) finding (or paging), the process by which the network initiates a query for an endpoint's location (which also may result in an update to the location database). Most location tracking techniques use a combination of updating and finding in an effort to select the best trade-off between update overhead and delay incurred in finding. Specifically, updates are not usually sent every time an endpoint enters a new cell, but rather are sent according to a predefined strategy so that the finding operation can be restricted to a specific area. There is also a trade-off, analyzed formally between the update and paging costs.Location management methods are most adapted and widely used in current cellular networks, e.g., GSM, IS-54. IS-95, etc. The location management methods are broadly classified into two groups. The first group includes all methods based on algorithms and network architecture, mainly on the processing capabilities of the system. The second group contains the methods based on learning processes, which require the collection of statistics on subscribers' mobility behavior, for instance.

Location management is the basis for ensuring service continuity in low earth orbit (LEO) satellite mobile communication systems. The dual mobility of LEO satellites and mobile users triggers frequent location update procedures, which will increase the network location management overhead and bring great challenges to network location management, especially in the mega satellite networks. In this paper, we propose a location management technology solution for mega satellite networks, including location management architecture, location area design, location update, and paging procedures. A medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite-assisted location management architecture is proposed to improve the efficiency of location management. It extends the location management control plane from the ground to space and adopts a distributed location management mechanism. A dual location area, including the satellite location area and user location area, is designed to balance the network location update and paging overhead. Based on the dual location area, we systematically design low-overhead location update and paging procedures. Simulation results have verified that the proposed location management technology solution can reduce the total location management overhead and delay by at least 45.8% and 20.8%, respectively.

This paper proposes algorithms for handoff, location, and connection management in a wireless asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) local-area network (LAN). Fast handoffs while maintaining cell sequence and quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees are achieved by distributing switching functionality to base stations, and using a networking scheme based on provisioned virtual trees. A new distributed location management scheme using a minimal registration procedure and broadcasts on wired links is proposed for this LAN. The detailed signaling procedures that support the algorithms for mobility and connection management are described. Finally, an implementation of these procedures and an analysis of the measured data is presented. Measurements of service times obtained from this implementation indicate that over 100 calls/s. can be handled by each node in 50-node network with a high-percentage of mobiles (75%) relative to fixed endpoints. This is comparable to current wired ATM switch call handling throughputs, in spite of the fact that these nodes perform additional handoff and location management functions. The data also indicates handoff latency times of 1.3 ms. This validates our proposal for maintaining cell sequence while performing handoffs.

The features of two important application scenarios, supporting mobile switches with fixed end users and mobile switches with mobile users, are dramatically different from those of the traditional wired network structure. To exploit mobile switches, the location and configuration management of mobile switches is essential to handle the mobility and topology change of the wireless/mobile ATM network. In this paper we address the location management and configuration problems of mobile switches in an ATM network. We investigate several aspects of the location management problem including architecture to support switch mobility, mobile switch tracking, and mobile switch locating. We propose an approach that is based on the Private Network-Network Interface (PNNI) protocol. We extend the PNNI protocol to enable it to handle mobile switches. Moreover, we develop analytical models to determine the tracking and locating costs for mobile switches under the proposed scheme. The models illustrate the relation between total cost (tracking cost + locating cost) and peer group size. The models can be used to derive the optimal configuration for an ATM network with mobile switches.

In this paper, we provide the specification of a cloud-initiated Point-of-Interest (PoI) application, and illustrate its requirements for a convergence between IPv6 mobility management and Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) geographic services. We propose to extend a flat IPv6 mobility management architecture with a new functional block, namely LIMME (Location & Infrastructure Mobility Management Entity), composed of three key functions: a Location Manager (LM) acting as location anchor point for cloud-based services, a Geographic Mobility Management (GMM) function acting as location proxy for the LM and handling IPv6 mobility, and an Infrastructure Node selector, which selects a route based on geographical data and local infrastructure node conditions. As a proof-of-concept, we implemented these extensions on the iTETRIS ITS simulation platform and illustrated their benefits in enhanced IPv6 mobility management and traffic offloading.

Traditional centralized approaches toward mobility management such as MIPv6 and its variants suffer because of the performance issues like single‐point failure, non‐optimal routing, low scalability, authentication latency, and signaling messages overhead of the mobility protocols. In this paper, we propose a novel network‐based Distributed Mobility and Authentication Mechanism (DMAM) to focus on these issues. DMAM decomposes centralized mobility functions into Home Address Allocation, mobility routing (MR), and location management (LM). A new entity is introduced in DMAM, called Location and Mobility Manager that distributes MR and LM among multiple routers to which mobile node can be attached. Furthermore, DMAM offers strong authentication mechanism based on symmetric cryptographic and collision‐free one‐way hash function. The performance of proposed scheme is analyzed and compared with existing approaches in terms of handover latency, handover blocking probability, packet loss, communication overhead, and computational cost. The conducted numerical results demonstrate that DMAM outperforms the existing approaches. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper presents two mobile location management algorithms for ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) networks based on the PNNI (private network-to-network interface) standard. The first solution is called the mobile PNNI scheme because it builds on the PNNI routing protocol. It uses limited-scope (characterized by a parameter S) reachability updates, forwarding pointers, and a route optimization procedure. The second solution is called the LR (location registers) scheme because it introduces location registers (such as the cellular home and visitor location registers) into the PNNI standards-based hierarchical networks. This scheme uses a hierarchical arrangement of location registers with the hierarchy limited to a certain level S. Analytical models are set up to compare the average move, search, and total costs per move of these two schemes for different values of the CMR (call-to-mobility ratio), and to provide guidelines for selecting parameters of the algorithms. Results show that at low CMRs (CMR<0.025), the LR scheme performs better than the mobile PNNI scheme. We also observe that the two schemes show a contrasting behavior in terms of the value to be used for the parameter S to achieve the least average total cost. At low CMRs, the parameter S should be high for the mobile PNNI scheme, but low for the LR scheme, and vice versa for high CMRs.

Mobility management is an important aspect in LEO systems. In terrestrial wireless networks, the movement of the user triggers location updating and determines the paging scheme, while in LEO satellite systems, location updating and paging is mainly based on the movement of satellites. Terrestrial location management techniques must be altered to fit LEO systems. The paper introduces a modified movement-based location update and paging scheme in LEO networks. We propose the meta-cell concept, which includes two spot-beams of one satellite. First, we present a location management scheme based on the architecture with a meta-cell location area. Then, an analytical model is applied to formulate the cost of location updating and location paging for the movement and meta-cell based dynamic location update scheme. The comparison of performance between the meta-cell architecture method and the conventional signal-spot-cell architecture method is provided to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness and robustness of the proposed scheme under various parameters. To reduce the impact of meta-cell architecture on location paging cost, we present a forced location update strategy which is used in the case that the meta-cell includes two spot-beams from different satellites.

The advancements in semiconductor technologies had a significant impact on the evolution of the mobile networks and the devices. With the advent of smartphones, it is now possible for telephony and VAS to be rendered by platforms which are not a part of the mobile network itself but powered by ‘Over the Top’ players like Whatsapp. The mobile network as it stands today, plays the role of delivering the fat pipe to the mobile users required for these applications. The network itself is lesser involved in delivering VAS to its users. Never the less, we still need a network to serve its mobile users. Is it feasible for a mobile device to communicate with another mobile device bypassing the mobile network for all services and agnostic to the distance between the devices? Staying within the framework of 5G, ‘Device to Device’ communication may be possible but only when the devices are in proximity with each other. It is imperative that we need to explore the feasibility to develop a solution where the devices can communicate and roam in absence of a layer 7 network and remain agnostic to the distance between the devices. If that is possible, we may find a way to replace the existing layer 7 mobile network with just a layer 1 access. The outcome is obvious: ‘A Network-less Network’. The prosaic signalling procedures related to a mobile network, specifically addressing, mobility and location management can be directly actuated by the mobile devices. In this chapter we investigate the viability and practicality of developing and implementing such a network solution.

Wireless communication is one of the fastest growing industry segments today. Many types of wireless networks are now being used for applications such as personal communication, entertainment, rural and urban healthcare, smart home building, inventory control, and surveillance. This book introduces the basic concepts of wireless networks and mobile computing to give engineering students at the undergraduate/graduate level a solid background in the field. It also looks at the latest research and challenging problems in the field to serve as a reference for advanced-level researchers. Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing begins with an introduction to the different types of wireless networks, including Wi-Fi, ZigBee, cellular mobile, ad hoc, cognitive radio, wireless mesh, and wireless sensor. Subsequent chapters address more advanced topics such as: Mobility, bandwidth, and node location management issues in mobile networks Message communication techniques and protocols in ad hoc networks Recent research and future direction of wireless local area networks (WLANs) Deployment of sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) Energy-efficient communication in wireless networks Security aspects of wireless communication The book includes exercises at the end of every chapter to help give students a better insight into the topics presented. It includes a number of advanced-level exercises, which are research problems that may be taken up by researchers in the respective areas. This book provides a valuable reference for classroom study/teaching as well as for technology development and research in the relevant areas.

The tremendous demands from social market are pushing the booming development of mobile communications faster than ever before, leading to plenty of new advanced techniques emerging. With the converging of mobile and wireless communications with Internet services, the boundary between mobile personal telecommunications and wireless computer networks is disappearing. Wireless networks of the next generation need the support of all the advances on new architectures, standards, and protocols. Mobility management is an important issue in the area of mobile communications, which can be best solved at the network layer. One of the key features of the next generation wireless networks is all-IP infrastructure. This paper discusses the mobility management schemes for the next generation mobile networks through extending IP's functions with mobility support. A global hierarchical framework model for the mobility management of wireless networks is presented, in which the mobility management is divided into two complementary tasks: macro mobility and micro mobility. As the macro mobility solution, a basic principle of Mobile IP is introduced, together with the optimal schemes and the advances in IPv6. The disadvantages of the Mobile IP on solving the micro mobility problem are analyzed, on the basis of which three main proposals are discussed as the micro mobility solutions for mobile communications, including Hierarchical Mobile IP (HMIP), Cellular IP, and Handoff-Aware Wireless Access Internet Infrastructure (HAWAII). A unified model is also described in which the different micro mobility solutions can coexist simultaneously in mobile networks.

This paper proposes a distributed location management strategy for wireless mobile networks. In the proposed strategy, a number of consecutively numbered location information databases (LIDs) are arranged into a frame. A frame of LIDs overlaps with the next frame except one database. The location information of a mobile host is replicated and stored in the databases in the same frame. When the location area of a mobile host changes, the new location information is stored in the next frame of databases. Thus, the proposed strategy is referred to as the sliding-frame strategy. The average communication cost and average database response time of the proposed sliding-frame strategy are analyzed and shown to be always lower than or equal to those of the strategy proposed by Krishnamurthi et al.

The commercial proliferation of cellular voice and data service has placed a new challenge for mobile communication systems. Next-generation wireless systems are envisioned to have an all-IP-based infrastructure with the support of heterogeneous access technologies (Akyildiz et al., 2004). Under the circumstance, the Internet Protocol (IP) is selected as the common interconnection protocol to integrate disparate wireless systems, so that mobile users can roam among multiple wireless networks, regardless of the underlying different radio access technologies (Akyildiz et al., 2005; Makaya & Pierre, 2008; Mohanty & Xie, 2007). However, with the advent of new value-added services (video-conference, multimedia streaming, etc.) and novel concepts introduced into Long Term Evolution (LTE) architecture of the 4th Generation (4G) networks, provisioning efficient mobilitymanagement with quality of service guarantees and seamless handoff feature become even more important for next-generation wireless network design. Generally, mobility management allows mobile communication systems to locate roaming terminals for voice/data delivery as well as maintaining network connectivity when the terminal moves into a new service area (Akyildiz et al., 1999). Typically, such process contains two aspects: location management and handoff management (Quintero et al., 2004; Zhang et al., 2010). Location management enables telecommunication systems to find out the network attachment points of roaming nodes for call/data delivery. It usually contains two components: location update and call delivery (or data delivery). The former requires mobile nodes to provide the system with their location information, while the latter indicates that the system is queried for the location information of specific mobile nodes, and then services are delivered to them while they are away from their home network (Zhang et al., 2010). Handoff management aims to maintain network connectivity when mobile nodes change their network attachment points or access points. Obviously, handoff protocols need to preservemobile users’ network connectivity as they move from one network to another, while simultaneously reducing disruption to the ongoing call/data sessions. Therefore, reducing handoff delay and maximizing session continuity are always the primary goals of handoff management (Dimopoulou et al., 2005). Generally, handoff seamlessness means lower packet Performance Analysis of Seamless Handover in Mobile IPv6-based Cellular Networks 13

The growth in the number of users in mobile communications networks and the rise in the traffic generated by each user, are responsible for the increasing importance of mobility management. Within mobility management, Location Management makes sure that the roaming of the user within the coverage area is enabled. New strategies are being proposed to minimize the signaling costs involved in Location Management. In this paper we focus on user profile based algorithms and present new methods to calculate useful parameters for the estimation of the Location Management costs. In particular, we apply new algorithms to obtain the ?O?nparameters (useful in the calculation of the location update costs for different Location Management strategies), and we summarize our results in terms of practical guidelines for the networks designers in order to minimize signaling costs.