A hybrid DMM solution and trade-off analysis for future wireless networks

Abstract Mobile Internet data traffic has experienced an exponential growth over the last few years due to the rise of demanding multimedia content applications and the increasing number of smart mobile devices. Seamless mobility support at the network level is envisioned as a key architectural requirement to deal with the ever increasing demand for data and content, cell densification and to efficiently utilize a plethora of heterogeneous wireless access networks (HetNets). Current and emerging efforts on that frontier aim to evolve mobility management protocols towards a more distributed operation to tackle shortcomings that stem from fully centralized oriented approaches. However, as will be detailed hereafter, there are instances where distributed mobility management result in lower performance, which might affect real time and several over the top (OTT) applications (as well as incur increased levels of signaling overhead in the network). To this end, in this paper we provide a meticulous analysis of the different trade-offs between centralized and Distributed Mobility Management (DMM) and based on the analysis we propose a Hybrid DMM solution that overcomes, in terms of mobility costs, both centralized and distributed mobility management protocols. Furthermore, we also conduct a comprehensive analytic and numerical comparison of the different mobility solutions. Our results indicate the significant benefits in terms of packet delivery cost and signaling overhead that Hybrid DMM solutions might bring. Finally, we conclude by discussing some open ended issues in mobility management in emerging and future wireless networks.