An approach for seamless integration of QoS and mobility for wireless mobile networks

In recent years, the study of new network architectures has defined a clear trend towards using IP end-to-end. One of the most important issues for these types of all-IP networks is how to provide quality of service guarantees while a user is moving in wireless networks. The quality of service may degrade due to insufficient resources in the air links of any of the calling parties. In 3G cellular networks, a mobile is able to seamlessly obtain transmission resources when doing a handover to a new base station. This is essential for both service continuity and quality of service assurance; so a similar level of guarantees is required for future networks. This paper presents a QoS and resource allocation mechanism that takes into consideration in combination, the air link resources and the wire link congestion to provide the users with the best experience. In addition, this paper aims at the integration of QoS provisioning with mobility management including architectural frameworks necessary to support the setup and seamless handovers of calls while supporting QoS levels agreed between the operator and the user. The architectural framework utilizes the concept of utility functions which describe the benefit a user receives from an specified amount of resources allocated to his/her call. This paper presents the architecture of this QoS provisioning system, explains the signalling necessary for integration, and evaluates the performance by simulation results.