Signalling channel handling in wireless ATM networks

The introduction of ATM in wireless CPN environments (WATM) necessitates the design of mobility related protocols, since the existing versions of B-ISDN signalling (ITU-T Q.2931, ATMF UNI 3.1) do not provide the means for terminal mobility. Such protocols can be deployed either as extensions to the standard signalling capabilities or as individual solutions that have little or no impact on existing infrastructures (switches, signalling software, etc.). In this paper, after presenting a WATM architecture, we study the problem of the switching/rerouting of the signalling connections that need to be performed whenever a mobile terminal crosses cell boundaries (handover, location update). Registration and forward hard handover algorithms are proposed