Support of Micro-Mobility in MPLS-Based Wireless Access Networks

In this paper, we propose an architecture for the MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching)-based micro-mobility management including label switched path setup, packet forwarding, handoff processing, and paging. In order to prevent packet loss during handoff, we propose two packet recovery mechanisms, namely: buffer time-based packet recovery and medium access control (MAC) layer assisted packet recovery schemes. Simulation results show that the MAC layer assisted packet recuvery scheme has a better performance than buffer time-based scheme. Our proposed scheme provides a higher throughput when compared with other IP micro-mobility protocols including Cellular IP, HAWAII, and Hierarchical Mobile IP.