A layer-2 approach for mobility and transport in the mobile backhaul

GTP tunnels are used to transport user data packets in LTE networks over the mobile backhaul between the base stations and core network elements. Maintaining the tunnel as the user equipment moves requires heavy signaling. Moreover, the protocol stack effectively adds headers and thus introduces overhead. In this paper, we design and analyze an LTE architecture and mobility management solution that is based on layer-2 switching. We remove the GTP tunnel and its associated IP/UDP tunnel, and embed user IP packets directly in Ethernet frames within the mobile backhaul. Mobility management within an access network is distributed. We show that the design is very efficient and would simplify the future LTE evolution.