IP Flow Mobility Trigger Mechanism in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

With the Multi Access Packet Data Network Connectivity and IP flow mobility introduced by 3GPP, mobile devices with multiple wireless interfaces can connect to multiple access networks simultaneously, meanwhile allowing dynamic allocation of different IP flows to different access systems corresponding to their requirements. In order to enable IP flow mobility, an effective IP flow mobility trigger mechanism is indispensible. However, among the existing technical standard and current literatures in IP flow mobility, almost no research involves the trigger mechanism and decision algorithm. This paper proposes a mechanism for network-based IP flow mobility, which includes a trigger process and a network selection decision algorithm based on each IP flow. Simulation results validate the flexibility and efficiency of our proposed mechanism, which can achieve a better network load balancing as well as a higher user satisfaction.