Autonomic system for mobility support in 4G networks

Abstract

Abstract-Individual wireless access networks show limitations that can be overcome through the integration of different technologies into a unified platform (i.e. 4G system). Nevertheless, the integration of heterogeneous networks poses many challenges such as adding complexity to the processes of deciding when to handoff, selecting the best network, and minimising roaming effects using appropriate handover methods. This paper presents PROTON, a novel solution that assists mobile users in the decision-making process related to roaming between heterogeneous technologies. PROTON deploys a formal policy representation model, based on Finite State Transducers, that evaluates policies using information from the context to manage mobiles' behaviour in a transparent manner, hiding 4G systems' complexities. We blend concepts of autonomic computing into the design of the solution and manage to improve user experience in typical 4G scenarios while keeping transparency.Index Terms-policy systems, 4G networks, Finite State Transducer, heterogeneous, handover.

Trigger Management Mechanisms

“…Our goal is to define a framework that supports the event collection and processing, and trigger distribution possibly from hundreds of different sources. We concur with Vidales et al [4] that in heterogeneous network environments several sources of events and context information should be consulted in order to achieve seamless connectivity and develop swift mobility management mechanisms. Furthermore, earlier work in other event/notification systems [16]- [19], which introduces mechanisms on how to implement such systems, along with the evaluated event generation cases is very encouraging and complimentary to our effort in defining TMM as a specialized notification system for mobility-related events which originate from the entire protocol stack.…”

On harnessing information models and ontologies for policy conflict analysis

“…Verication is concerned with ensuring the policies perform as planed when taking into account the eect other policies have on the system. Both Baliosian and Serrat (2004) and Vidales et al (2005) make use of nite state transducers to represent the behaviour of policies. The motivation of the work is to investigate if existing processes and algorithms designed to combine nite state transducers can be reused to discover and potentially resolve policy conicts.…”

An Architectural Framework for Heterogeneous Networking

“…Almost all the policy management systems so far reported in the literature (e.g. POLIMAND (Aust et al, 2003)), including the most recent, PROTON (Vidales et al, 2005a), have been reactive.…”