Analysis of cross issues between QoS routing and /spl mu/-mobility protocols

The current modus operandi of different proposed architectures for all-IP mobile and wireless networks is commonly based on the assumption of best-effort routing and per-class (DiffServ) or per-flow (IntServ) treatment of IP traffic. At the same time, emergence and promotion of QoS routing as an embedded network feature seems orthogonal to the deployment of current /spl mu/-mobility protocols. The stance to be defended by the authors is that interactions between /spl mu/-mobility solutions and different QoS-aware path selection logics (present in QoS routing) do exist and, depending on the solution supported in the scoped domain, non-desirable phenomena may occur degrading the general packet delivery efficiency. The clashing properties of two sets of solutions reflect in the realisation of mechanisms for instalment, maintenance and adaptability of packet forwarding mechanisms to mobile destinations. The impetus of the paper is to unfold the hidden interactions between these two sets of solutions and to throw sharper light on the current vagueness and lack of specificity of deploying QoS routing schemes in a mobile/wireless network arena by proposing different solutions, while at the same time stating that integration of QoS and mobility is an important challenge for development of future IP networks.