Access Gateway Mobility Management for Wireless Handoffs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current mobility management in wireless networks, particularly with Mobile IP, burdens mobile nodes with complex processing during handoffs, leading to potential data loss and latency due to the need for re-authentication and re-authorization.
Innovation Solution
Shifting mobility management from mobile nodes to access gateways, which maintain dynamically assigned IP addresses and security information, allowing for seamless handoffs without re-authentication and reducing latency through bi-casting tunnels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mobility management is handled by mobile nodes using Mobile IP, then security and IP address management are maintained, but processing load on mobile nodes increases and handoff latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts mobility management functionality from the mobile node and relocates it to the access gateway. The access gateway maintains the mobile node's IP address and handles handoff procedures, while the mobile node only needs to maintain a simple mapping between its identifier and the access gateway address, significantly reducing processing load on the mobile device.
Solution Approach 2:
The access gateway acts as an intermediary between the mobile node and the network core. It manages the mobile node's IP address, handles authentication, and coordinates handoffs between different access gateways, relieving the mobile node of complex mobility management tasks while maintaining security and connectivity.
2Reliability
If re-authentication is performed during handoff in Mobile IP, then security is maintained, but handoff latency increases and data loss occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The access gateway performs authentication and security setup in advance before handoff is needed. When a mobile node moves to a new access gateway, the security context is already established and can be transferred seamlessly, eliminating the need for re-authentication during handoff and reducing latency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent maintains continuous security context across handoffs by having the access gateway preserve authentication state and security associations. This allows the useful action of secure communication to continue uninterrupted during mobility transitions, preventing data loss and reducing handoff time.
3Stability of the object's composition
If mobile nodes maintain their own MIP stack, then IP address permanence is achieved, but device complexity and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The complex MIP stack functionality is extracted from the mobile node and implemented in the access gateway infrastructure. The mobile node only needs to maintain a simple identifier-to-access-gateway mapping, dramatically reducing memory requirements, processing power, and battery consumption while the access gateway handles all complex IP address management and handoff coordination.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods to manage network access (e.g., IPv4 and IPv6) and layer 3 mobility are provided. This can allow mobility management to be moved from a mobile node's stack to the access gateway, simplifying the stack and providing fast handoffs. The mobility management at an access gateway further allows a mobile node to keep its dynamically assigned IP address for the duration of a call session and through handoffs. The placement of access gateways in a domain of trust allows security information to be passed between access gateways in a handoff so that the security associations do not need to be re-authenticated with the mobile node. One or more of the above mobility management features can be used to provide a fast and seamless handoff for a mobile node.