A multilevel hierarchical distributed IP mobility management scheme for wide area networks

Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6) has been proposed as one solution to accommodate the frequent movements of mobile terminals (MTs) in IP-based mobile communication networks. HMIPv6 utilizes a mobility anchor point (MAP) that allows the network to manage the mobility of MTs without causing any overflow of outgoing and incoming messages beyond the network perimeter. However, there is a problem in applying HMIPv6 to a wide area network having a multilevel hierarchy. The distribution of several MAPs within such a network can be used as a means of optimizing the different mobility scenarios experienced by MTs. However, HMIPv6 allows MTs to select their own MAP, so with HMIPv6, the MTs may not select the MAP that would be chosen in an optimized scheme. This may cause load concentration at a particular MAP and/or overflow of signaling messages to and from outside networks. An effective IP mobility management method is proposed that focuses on the speed of movement of the MTs. It reduces the number of signaling messages to and from outside networks without suffering from load concentration at particular MAPs, and we show, by simulation experiments, that the proposed method works effectively.