Fast Handover over Micro-MPLS-Based Wireless Networks

Recently, there has been increasing interest in applying MPLS to IP-based wireless access networks [1]. During a handover on Mobile MPLS-based networks, a registration update message is sent from the Foreign Agent (FA) to the Home Agent (HA). This update message results in a handover delay because of the distance the registration update message must travel from the FA to the HA. To decrease frequent registration handover delays, a micro-mobility approach over MPLS-based networks (also known as Hierarchical Mobile MPLS (H-MPLS)) [2] method was proposed to overcome the limitations of the Mobile MPLS protocol. Studies have shown that with H-MPLS, the Mobile Node (MN) experiences considerably lower handover delays when compared with the delay incurred with conventional mobile MPLS [2], [3]. In this paper we propose to extend the use of H-MPLS by introducing Intermediate Label Information Base (I-LIB) on a Label Switching Router (LSR), which uses the MPLS forwarding and localized signaling. Our simulations demonstrate that with an I-LIB, the end-to-end delay is reduced as a result of a decrease in the handover latency during the establishment of a new Label Switched Path (LSP). With increasing usage of wireless devices supporting delay sensitive traffic (such as voice and video over IP), it is essential to provide lower end-to-end by minimizing handover delays since large delays cause Quality of Service (QoS) degradations.