GIP: an infrastructure for mobile intranets development

The GPRS and UMTS specifications define the procedures supportingthe mobility and the data sessions of a mobile user moving withinthe area of the corresponding PLMNs. For the case, though, ofmobile users working in group, using a PLMN infrastructure, theaforementioned networks foresee no special treatment. However,services tightly related to a specific geographic area, like forexample security or surveillance services, could be implemented bya group of collaborating Mobile Nodes forming a mobile intranetthat uses the facilities of a PLMN. In this paper, after adescription of what the specifications provide, methods areproposed for the deployment of intranets over the GPRS or the UMTSinfrastructure. At this aim, the concept of the GIP is introducedregarding a frame of interconnected SGSNs, within the GPRS/UMTSenvironment. This frame supports, without the intervention of theGGSN, the mobility of a number of Mobile Nodes belonging to thesame group, as well as the data traffic between them. Moreover, theadditional tasks to be undertaken by the SGSNs forming the frameare described.