Mobility management in packet transport networks for network convergence

Mobility management and quality of service (QoS) are two of the most important goals in the present and future development of wireless networks. These tasks involve not only the wireless domain but also the access network that interconnects mobile devices with the Internet. This emerging topic is known as fixed mobile convergence. The intention of this convergence is the integration and creation of a unified infrastructure from fixed and wireless mobile networks. In this converged infrastructure, users can move across networks and access services seamlessly. In this paper, we present a study on recent advances and open research issues on mobility protocols in conjunction with multi-protocol label switching (MPLS)-based access networks. Various mobile management protocols and their interaction with the access network are briefly introduced. A new architecture called integrated proxy mobile MPLS transport profile is also outlined to provide the highest integration level, QoS and high rates of mobility to achieve fixed mobile convergence. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.