FLIP: enforcing IP mobility to the cellular network edge

The mobile network core is evolving towards an unlayered and decentralised architecture, in which the current centralised mobility management mechanisms cannot be used efficiently. In this paper, a flat IP FLIP mobility management approach is proposed. It enforces IP mobility to the cellular network edge with the help of the distributed gateways. In FLIP, mobility management-related information is maintained in the distributed gateways, and multiple management domains tailored for cellular networks are considered. Autonomicity is also integrated in FLIP. Besides, FLIP supports also the ID/locator separation and the smooth transition between the upgraded mobile hosts and the traditional hosts. A prototype of FLIP has been implemented and an experimental network consisting of commercial and educational network has been established. Experimental and evaluation results show that FLIP is an efficient approach for mobility management oriented to the future mobile network architecture.