Tunnel-free distributed mobility management (DMM) support protocol for future mobile networks

Abstract

The number of wireless services and devices have remarkably increased, especially since the introduction of smart phones. The population of mobile nodes (MNs) is now exceeding the traditional non-mobile nodes. Mobility is a key factor in mobile core networks as it is responsible for providing continuous communication when a MN is on the move. Currently, a centralized mobile core network architecture is implemented, which has certain limitations. Distributed mobility management (DMM) is often seen as a solution to the problems associated with centralized mobility management (CMM). Address and tunneling management are big challenges for current DMM-based mobility protocols. Keeping in mind the current advancement of mobile network architecture, this paper proposes a novel tunnel-free distributed mobility management support protocol intended for such an evolution. In addition, the performance of the existing DMM IPv6 mobility management protocols in the context of handover latency, handover blocking probability, and data packet loss is analyzed and compared to the proposed framework. The performance analyses show that the proposed tunnel-free method can reduce about 12% of handover latency, 71% of handover blocking probability, and 82% of data packet loss.