Abstract EN:

The vision of next generation networks is an all-IP network supporting heterogeneous access technologies to accommodate a variety of services and to allow the mobile user to roam across different networks with a transparent and seamless mobility without degrading the QoS. For this case of mobility known as vertical HO, a special mobility and QoS management is needed in order for the HO to be performed with minimum delay, packet loss, and QoS degradation. The two complementary access technologies which are considered in this integration are UMTS and WLAN. Thus, we first describe the existing integration architectures combining the naturally converged networks UMTS and WLAN and the reasons behind integrating these different access technologies, in addition to the different mobility protocols employed in the different integration scenarios. In the context of vertical HO, we proposed to apply an Anticipated Vertical HO Architecture based on anticipated FMIPv6 mobility protocol in the context of WLAN to UMTS HOs, and vice versa. This will allow a seamless HO and will minimize the HO latency and packet loss. But, QoS management is still to be addressed. To this end, we propose the Mobility and QoS Management Architecture MQMA, and the Inter-Domain Management module IDM in order to "guide" the HO request to the best network capable of providing the required QoS parameters, based on the proposed Mobility and QoS Management Protocol, MQMP. The HO could be performed vertically by VIDM or guided horizontally to the same access technology by HIDM, if the vertical HO could not be performed. The HO could also be guided to WiMax network by the SIDM, preventing forced HO termination.