Chapter 6 Chapter 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks

Wireless and Mobile Background:

Networks  # wireless (mobile) phone subscribers now
exceeds # wired phone subscribers!
 computer nets: laptops, palmtops, PDAs,
Internet-enabled phone promise anytime
A note on the use of these ppt slides:
We’re making these slides freely available to all (faculty, students, readers).
untethered Internet access
They’re in PowerPoint form so you can add, modify, and delete slides
(including this one) and slide content to suit your needs. They obviously
Computer Networking:  two important (but different) challenges
represent a lot of work on our part. In return for use, we only ask the A Top Down Approach  wireless: communication over wireless link
following:

If you use these slides (e.g., in a class) in substantially unaltered form,
5th edition.
that you mention their source (after all, we’d like people to use our book!) Jim Kurose, Keith Ross  mobility: handling the mobile user who changes point

If you post any slides in substantially unaltered form on a www site, that
you note that they are adapted from (or perhaps identical to) our slides, and
Addison-Wesley, April of attachment to network
note our copyright of this material. 2009.
Thanks and enjoy! JFK/KWR

All material copyright 1996-2009

J.F Kurose and K.W. Ross, All Rights Reserved
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-1 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-2

Chapter 6 outline Elements of a wireless network

6.1 Introduction Mobility wireless hosts

 laptop, PDA, IP phone
 6.5 Principles:
 run applications
Wireless addressing and routing
to mobile users  may be stationary
 6.2 Wireless links, (non-mobile) or mobile
characteristics  6.6 Mobile IP network  wireless does not
 6.7 Handling mobility in infrastructure always mean mobility
 CDMA
 6.3 IEEE 802.11 cellular networks
wireless LANs (“wi-fi”)  6.8 Mobility and higher-
 6.4 Cellular Internet layer protocols
Access
 architecture 6.9 Summary
 standards (e.g., GSM)

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-3 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-4
 Elements of a wireless network Elements of a wireless network
base station wireless link
 typically connected to  typically used to
wired network connect mobile(s) to
 relay - responsible base station
for sending packets  also used as backbone
between wired link
network network and wireless network  multiple access
infrastructure host(s) in its “area” infrastructure protocol coordinates
 e.g., cell towers, link access
802.11 access  various data rates,
points transmission distance

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-5 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-6

Characteristics of selected wireless link

Elements of a wireless network
standards
infrastructure mode
 base station connects
200 802.11n mobiles into wired
network
54 802.11a,g 802.11a,g point-to-point data  handoff: mobile
Data rate (Mbps)

5-11 802.11b 802.16 (WiMAX) changes base station

3G cellular network providing connection
4 UMTS/WCDMA-HSPDA, CDMA2000-1xEVDO
enhanced infrastructure into wired network
1 802.15

.384 UMTS/WCDMA, CDMA2000 3G

.056 IS-95, CDMA, GSM 2G

Indoor Outdoor Mid-range Long-range

10-30m 50-200m outdoor outdoor
200m – 4 Km 5Km – 20 Km

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-7 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-8
Elements of a wireless network Wireless network taxonomy
ad hoc mode
 no base stations single hop multiple hops
 nodes can only host may have to
host connects to
transmit to other infrastructure relay through several
base station (WiFi,
nodes within link (e.g., APs) wireless nodes to
WiMAX, cellular)
coverage connect to larger
which connects to
 nodes organize larger Internet Internet: mesh net
themselves into a
network: route among no base station, no
themselves no no base station, no
connection to larger
infrastructure Internet. May have to
connection to larger
relay to reach other
Internet (Bluetooth,
a given wireless node
ad hoc nets)
MANET, VANET

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-9 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-10

Wireless Link Characteristics (1) Wireless Link Characteristics (2)

Differences from wired link ….  SNR: signal-to-noise ratio 10-1

 larger SNR – easier to 10-2

 decreased signal strength: radio signal extract signal from noise (a
attenuates as it propagates through matter “good thing”) 10-3

(path loss) SNR versus BER tradeoffs

BER
 10-4
 interference from other sources: standardized  given physical layer:
10-5
wireless network frequencies (e.g., 2.4 GHz) increase power -> increase
shared by other devices (e.g., phone); devices SNR->decrease BER 10-6
(motors) interfere as well  given SNR: choose physical
 multipath propagation: radio signal reflects off layer that meets BER
10-7
10 20 30 40
objects ground, arriving ad destination at requirement, giving highest
SNR(dB)
slightly different times thruput QAM256 (8 Mbps)
• SNR may change with
QAM16 (4 Mbps)
…. make communication across (even a point to point) mobility: dynamically adapt
wireless link much more “difficult” physical layer (modulation BPSK (1 Mbps)
technique, rate)
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-11 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-12
Wireless network characteristics Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
Multiple wireless senders and receivers create
additional problems (beyond multiple access):  used in several wireless broadcast channels
(cellular, satellite, etc) standards
A B C  unique “code” assigned to each user; i.e., code set
C partitioning
C’s signal  all users share same frequency, but each user has
A’s signal
B strength strength own “chipping” sequence (i.e., code) to encode data
A  encoded signal = (original data) X (chipping
sequence)
space
Hidden terminal problem  decoding: inner-product of encoded signal and
 B, A hear each other Signal attenuation: chipping sequence
 B, C hear each other  B, A hear each other  allows multiple users to “coexist” and transmit
 A, C can not hear each other  B, C hear each other simultaneously with minimal interference (if codes
means A, C unaware of their  A, C can not hear each other are “orthogonal”)
interference at B interfering at B

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-13 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-14

CDMA Encode/Decode CDMA: two-sender interference

channel output Zi,m
Zi,m= [Link]
data d0 = 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
d1 = -1
bits -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1
sender
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 slot 1 slot 0
code channel channel
-1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1
output output
slot 1 slot 0

M
Di = Σ Zi,[Link]
m=1
M
received 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
d0 = 1
-1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1
input d1 = -1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 slot 1 slot 0
code channel channel
-1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1

receiver output output

slot 1 slot 0

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-15 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-16
Chapter 6 outline IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN
 802.11b  802.11a
6.1 Introduction Mobility
 2.4-5 GHz unlicensed spectrum  5-6 GHz range
 6.5 Principles:
 up to 11 Mbps  up to 54 Mbps
Wireless addressing and routing
to mobile users  direct sequence spread  802.11g
 6.2 Wireless links,
 6.6 Mobile IP spectrum (DSSS) in physical  2.4-5 GHz range
characteristics layer  up to 54 Mbps
 CDMA  6.7 Handling mobility in
• all hosts use same chipping
 6.3 IEEE 802.11 cellular networks  802.11n: multiple antennae
code
wireless LANs (“wi-fi”)  6.8 Mobility and higher-  2.4-5 GHz range

 6.4 cellular Internet layer protocols  up to 200 Mbps

access
 architecture 6.9 Summary  all use CSMA/CA for multiple access
 standards (e.g., GSM)
 all have base-station and ad-hoc network versions

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-17 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-18

802.11 LAN architecture 802.11: Channels, association

 wireless host communicates  802.11b: 2.4GHz-2.485GHz spectrum divided into
Internet with base station 11 channels at different frequencies
 base station = access  AP admin chooses frequency for AP
point (AP)
 interference possible: channel can be same as
 Basic Service Set (BSS)
that chosen by neighboring AP!
(aka “cell”) in infrastructure
hub, switch
or router mode contains:  host: must associate with an AP
AP
 wireless hosts  scans channels, listening for beacon frames
BSS 1  access point (AP): base containing AP’s name (SSID) and MAC address
station  selects AP to associate with
AP
 ad hoc mode: hosts only
 may perform authentication [Chapter 8]
 will typically run DHCP to get IP address in AP’s
subnet
BSS 2
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-19 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-20
 802.11: passive/active scanning IEEE 802.11: multiple access
 avoid collisions: 2+ nodes transmitting at same time
BBS 1 BBS 2 BBS 1 BBS 2
 802.11: CSMA - sense before transmitting
 don’t collide with ongoing transmission by other node
AP 1 AP 2 AP 1 1 AP 2
1 1 2 2  802.11: no collision detection!
2 3
3 4  difficult to receive (sense collisions) when transmitting due
H1 H1 to weak received signals (fading)
 can’t sense all collisions in any case: hidden terminal, fading
Passive Scanning: Active Scanning:
 goal: avoid collisions: CSMA/C(ollision)A(voidance)
(1) beacon frames sent from APs (1) Probe Request frame broadcast
(2) association Request frame sent: from H1
H1 to selected AP (2) Probes response frame sent from A B C
(3) association Response frame sent: APs C
H1 to selected AP (3) Association Request frame sent:
A’s signal C’s signal
H1 to selected AP B strength
strength
(4) Association Response frame A
sent: H1 to selected AP
space
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-21 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-22

IEEE 802.11 MAC Protocol: CSMA/CA Avoiding collisions (more)

802.11 sender
idea: allow sender to “reserve” channel rather than random
1 if sense channel idle for DIFS then sender receiver access of data frames: avoid collisions of long data frames
transmit entire frame (no CD)  sender first transmits small request-to-send (RTS) packets
2 if sense channel busy then DIFS to BS using CSMA
start random backoff time  RTSs may still collide with each other (but they’re short)

timer counts down while channel idle data  BS broadcasts clear-to-send CTS in response to RTS
transmit when timer expires  CTS heard by all nodes
if no ACK, increase random backoff  sender transmits data frame
SIFS
interval, repeat 2  other stations defer transmissions
ACK
802.11 receiver
- if frame received OK avoid data frame collisions completely
using small reservation packets!
return ACK after SIFS (ACK needed due
to hidden terminal problem)
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-23 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-24
 Collision Avoidance: RTS-CTS exchange 802.11 frame: addressing
A B
AP

2 2 6 6 6 2 6 0 - 2312 4
frame address address address seq address
duration payload CRC
reservation collision control 1 2 3 control 4

Address 4: used only

in ad hoc mode
Address 1: MAC address
of wireless host or AP Address 3: MAC address
to receive this frame of router interface to
DATA (A) which AP is attached
defer Address 2: MAC address
of wireless host or AP
time transmitting this frame

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-25 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-26

802.11 frame: addressing 802.11 frame: more

frame seq #
duration of reserved
(for RDT)
transmission time (RTS/CTS)
Internet
2 2 6 6 6 2 6 0 - 2312 4
H1 R1 router
frame address address address seq address
duration payload CRC
AP control 1 2 3 control 4

R1 MAC addr H1 MAC addr 2 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

dest. address source address Protocol To From More Power More
Type Subtype Retry WEP Rsvd
version AP AP frag mgt data
802.3 frame

AP MAC addr H1 MAC addr R1 MAC addr

address 1 address 2 address 3 frame type
(RTS, CTS, ACK, data)
802.11 frame
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-27 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-28
802.11: mobility within same subnet 802.11: advanced capabilities
Rate Adaptation 10-1
 H1 remains in same IP router 10-2
 base station, mobile
subnet: IP address 10-3
dynamically change

BER
can remain same hub or
10-4

switch
transmission rate 10-5
 switch: which AP is
(physical layer 10-6
associated with H1? BBS 1 modulation technique) 10-7
10 20 30 40
 self-learning (Ch. 5):
AP 1
as mobile moves, SNR SNR(dB)
switch will see frame
from H1 and varies 1. SNR decreases, BER
AP 2
“remember” which increase as node moves
QAM256 (8 Mbps) away from base station
switch port can be H1 BBS 2 QAM16 (4 Mbps)

used to reach H1 BPSK (1 Mbps) 2. When BER becomes too

operating point
high, switch to lower
transmission rate but with
lower BER

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-29 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-30

802.11: advanced capabilities 802.15: personal area network

Power Management  less than 10 m diameter
 node-to-AP: “I am going to sleep until next  replacement for cables
beacon frame” (mouse, keyboard, S
P

 AP knows not to transmit frames to this headphones) P

radius of
M
node  ad hoc: no infrastructure coverage

 node wakes up before next beacon frame  master/slaves: P

S S
P
 beacon frame: contains list of mobiles with AP-  slaves request permission to
to-mobile frames waiting to be sent send (to master)
 node will stay awake if AP-to-mobile frames
 master grants requests
M Master device
to be sent; otherwise sleep again until next  802.15: evolved from
beacon frame Bluetooth specification S Slave device
 2.4-2.5 GHz radio band P Parked device (inactive)
 up to 721 kbps
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-31 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-32
 802.16: WiMAX 802.16: WiMAX: downlink, uplink scheduling
point-to-point
 like 802.11 & cellular:
 transmission frame
base station model
 down-link subframe: base station to node
 transmissions to/from
base station by hosts  uplink subframe: node to base station
with omnidirectional
antenna F F

pream.
DL- UL- DL DL DL Initial request
 base station-to-base point-to-multipoint MAP MAP burst 1 burst 2 burst n maint. conn.
SS #1 SS #2 SS #k
F F
station backhaul with
downlink subframe uplink subframe
point-to-point antenna
 unlike 802.11: base station tells nodes who will get to receive (DL map)
and who will get to send (UL map), and when
 range ~ 6 miles (“city
rather than coffee
shop”)  WiMAX standard provide mechanism for
 ~14 Mbps scheduling, but not scheduling algorithm
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-33 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-34

Components of cellular network architecture

Chapter 6 outline
MSC

connects cells to wide area net
6.1 Introduction Mobility
manages call setup (more later!)

handles mobility (more later!)
 6.5 Principles: cell
Wireless addressing and routing
covers geographical

 6.2 Wireless links,

to mobile users region

base station (BS) Mobile
characteristics  6.6 Mobile IP analogous to 802.11 AP Switching
Center
 CDMA  6.7 Handling mobility in
mobile users attach Public telephone
 6.3 IEEE 802.11 cellular networks to network through BS network, and

air-interface: Internet
wireless LANs (“wi-fi”)  6.8 Mobility and higher- physical and link layer Mobile
 6.4 Cellular Internet layer protocols protocol between Switching
mobile and BS Center
Access
 architecture 6.9 Summary
 standards (e.g., GSM) wired network

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-35 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-36
Cellular networks: the first hop Cellular standards: brief survey
Two techniques for sharing
mobile-to-BS radio
2G systems: voice channels
spectrum  IS-136 TDMA: combined FDMA/TDMA (north

 combined FDMA/TDMA:
america)
divide spectrum in time slots  GSM (global system for mobile communications):
frequency channels, divide combined FDMA/TDMA
each channel into time  most widely deployed
slots frequency  IS-95 CDMA: code division multiple access
bands
 CDMA: code division
multiple access
Don’t drown in a bowl
GSM of alphabet soup: use this
for reference only

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-37 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-38

Cellular standards: brief survey Cellular standards: brief survey

2.5 G systems: voice and data channels 3G systems: voice/data
 Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS)
 for those who can’t wait for 3G service: 2G extensions
 data service: High Speed Uplink/Downlink packet
 general packet radio service (GPRS) Access (HSDPA/HSUPA): 3 Mbps
 evolved from GSM  CDMA-2000: CDMA in TDMA slots
 data sent on multiple channels (if available)  data service: 1xEvlution Data Optimized (1xEVDO)
 enhanced data rates for global evolution (EDGE)
up to 14 Mbps
 also evolved from GSM, using enhanced modulation
 data rates up to 384K

 CDMA-2000 (phase 1)
 data rates up to 144K
….. more (and more interesting) cellular topics due to mobility (stay
 evolved from IS-95 tuned for details)

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-39 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-40
 Chapter 6 outline What is mobility?
6.1 Introduction Mobility  spectrum of mobility, from the network perspective:
 6.5 Principles:
Wireless addressing and routing
 6.2 Wireless links,
to mobile users no mobility high mobility

characteristics  6.6 Mobile IP

 CDMA  6.7 Handling mobility in
 6.3 IEEE 802.11 cellular networks
mobile wireless user, mobile user, mobile user, passing
wireless LANs (“wi-fi”)  6.8 Mobility and higher-
using same access connecting/ through multiple
 6.4 Cellular Internet layer protocols point disconnecting access point while
Access from network maintaining ongoing
 architecture 6.9 Summary using DHCP. connections (like cell
 standards (e.g., GSM) phone)

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-41 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-42

Mobility: Vocabulary Mobility: more vocabulary

home network: permanent home agent: entity that will visited network: network
“home” of mobile perform mobility functions on Permanent address: remains in which mobile currently
(e.g., 128.119.40/24)
behalf of mobile, when mobile constant (e.g., [Link]) resides (e.g., 79.129.13/24)
is remote
Care-of-address: address
in visited network.
(e.g., 79,129.13.2)

wide area
network wide area
network
Permanent address:
address in home
network, can always be
foreign agent: entity
used to reach mobile
in visited network
e.g., [Link] correspondent that performs
correspondent: wants mobility functions on
to communicate with behalf of mobile.
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-43
mobile 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-44
How do you contact a mobile friend: Mobility: approaches

Consider friend frequently changing I wonder where  Let routing handle it: routers advertise permanent
addresses, how do you find her? Alice moved to? address of mobile-nodes-in-residence via usual
routing table exchange.
 search all phone
 routing tables indicate where each mobile located
books?
 no changes to end-systems
 call her parents?
 Let end-systems handle it:
 expect her to let you
know where he/she is?  indirect routing: communication from
correspondent to mobile goes through home
agent, then forwarded to remote
 direct routing: correspondent gets foreign
address of mobile, sends directly to mobile

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-45 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-46

Mobility: approaches Mobility: registration

visited network
 Let routing handle it: routers advertise permanent home network
address of mobile-nodes-in-residence
not via usual
scalable
routing table exchange. 1
to millions of 2
 routing tables indicate
mobiles where each mobile located wide area
network
 no changes to end-systems
mobile contacts
 let end-systems handle it: foreign agent contacts home foreign agent on
 indirect routing: communication from agent home: “this mobile is entering visited
correspondent to mobile goes through home resident in my network” network
agent, then forwarded to remote
End result:
 direct routing: correspondent gets foreign
address of mobile, sends directly to mobile  Foreign agent knows about mobile
 Home agent knows location of mobile
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-47 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-48
Mobility via Indirect Routing Indirect Routing: comments
foreign agent  Mobile uses two addresses:
receives packets,
home agent intercepts forwards to mobile permanent address: used by correspondent (hence
packets, forwards to visited mobile location is transparent to correspondent)
foreign agent network
 care-of-address: used by home agent to forward
home
network
datagrams to mobile
3
 foreign agent functions may be done by mobile itself
wide area
network  triangle routing: correspondent-home-network-
2
1 mobile
correspondent 4
 inefficient when
addresses packets
mobile replies
using home address
directly to
correspondent, mobile
of mobile
correspondent are in same network

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-49 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-50

Indirect Routing: moving between networks Mobility via Direct Routing

 suppose mobile user moves to another foreign agent
receives packets,
network correspondent forwards forwards to mobile
to foreign agent visited
 registers with new foreign agent
network
 new foreign agent registers with home agent home
 home agent update care-of-address for mobile network 4
 packets continue to be forwarded to mobile (but wide area
with new care-of-address) 2 network
3
 mobility, changing foreign networks correspondent 1 4
transparent: on going connections can be requests, receives
mobile replies
foreign address of
maintained! mobile
directly to
correspondent

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-51 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-52
Mobility via Direct Routing: comments Accommodating mobility with direct routing
 anchor foreign agent: FA in first visited network
 overcome triangle routing problem
 data always routed first to anchor FA
 non-transparent to correspondent:  when mobile moves: new FA arranges to have data
correspondent must get care-of-address forwarded from old FA (chaining)
from home agent
 what if mobile changes visited network? foreign net visited
at session start
anchor
foreign
wide area agent
2
network
1 4
3
5
new
correspondent foreign
new foreign
agent network
correspondent agent

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-53 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-54

Chapter 6 outline Mobile IP

6.1 Introduction Mobility  RFC 3344
 6.5 Principles:
addressing and routing  has many features we’ve seen:
Wireless
to mobile users  home agents, foreign agents, foreign-agent
 6.2 Wireless links,
characteristics  6.6 Mobile IP registration, care-of-addresses, encapsulation
 CDMA  6.7 Handling mobility in (packet-within-a-packet)
 6.3 IEEE 802.11 cellular networks  three components to standard:
wireless LANs (“wi-fi”)  6.8 Mobility and higher-
 indirect routing of datagrams
 6.4 Cellular Internet layer protocols
 agent discovery
Access
architecture  registration with home agent
 6.9 Summary
 standards (e.g., GSM)

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-55 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-56
 Mobile IP: indirect routing Mobile IP: agent discovery
foreign-agent-to-mobile packet  agent advertisement: foreign/home agents advertise
service by broadcasting ICMP messages (typefield = 9)
packet sent by home agent to foreign dest: [Link]
agent: a packet within a packet 0 8 16 24

dest: [Link] dest: [Link] type = 9 code = 0 checksum

=9
H,F bits: home standard
and/or foreign agent router address ICMP fields

Permanent address:
[Link] R bit: registration
required type = 16 length sequence #
Care-of address: RBHFMGV
[Link] registration lifetime reserved
bits mobility agent
dest: [Link]
advertisement
packet sent by 0 or more care-of- extension
correspondent addresses
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-57 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-58

Mobile IP: registration example Components of cellular network architecture

visited network: 79.129.13/24
home agent foreign agent
HA: [Link] COA: [Link] ICMP agent adv.
Mobile agent recall: correspondent
COA: [Link] MA: [Link]
F. wired public
telephone
registration req. network
registration req. COA: [Link]
HA: [Link] MSC MSC
COA: [Link]
HA: [Link] MA: [Link]
MA: [Link] Lifetime: 9999
identification:714 MSC
Lifetime: 9999 MSC
F.
identification: 714 MSC
encapsulation format
F.

registration reply
time HA: [Link] registration reply
MA: [Link]
Lifetime: 4999 HA: [Link]
Identification: 714 MA: [Link] different cellular networks,
Lifetime: 4999
encapsulation format
F. Identification: 714 operated by different providers
F.

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-59 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-60
 Handling mobility in cellular networks GSM: indirect routing to mobile
home
HLR
 home network: network of cellular provider you network correspondent
2
subscribe to (e.g., Sprint PCS, Verizon) home
Mobile
 home location register (HLR): database in home home MSC consults HLR, Switching
network containing permanent cell phone #, gets roaming number of Center
mobile in visited network
profile information (services, preferences,
1 call routed
billing), information about current location to home network
(could be in another network) 3 Public
VLR switched
Mobile
 visited network: network in which mobile currently Switching
telephone
network
resides Center
4
 visitor location register (VLR): database with home MSC sets up 2nd leg of call
entry for each user currently in network to MSC in visited network
mobile
 could be home network user MSC in visited network completes
visited call through base station to mobile
network
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-61 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-62

GSM: handoff with common MSC GSM: handoff with common MSC
1. old BSS informs MSC of impending
 Handoff goal: route call via handoff, provides list of 1+ new BSSs
new base station (without
2. MSC sets up path (allocates resources)
interruption)
to new BSS
VLR Mobile  reasons for handoff: VLR Mobile 3. new BSS allocates radio channel for
Switching  stronger signal to/from new Switching
use by mobile
Center Center 2
BSS (continuing connectivity,
4 4. new BSS signals MSC, old BSS: ready
less battery drain) 1
new
7
old
 load balance: free up channel 8 5. old BSS tells mobile: perform handoff to
routing routing 3
old BSS
in current BSS old BSS 5 6
new BSS
new BSS new BSS
 GSM doesn’t mandate why to 6. mobile, new BSS signal to activate new
perform handoff (policy), only channel
how (mechanism)
7. mobile signals via new BSS to MSC:
 handoff initiated by old BSS handoff complete. MSC reroutes call
8 MSC-old-BSS resources released

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-63 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-64
GSM: handoff between MSCs GSM: handoff between MSCs

 anchor MSC: first MSC  anchor MSC: first MSC

visited during cal visited during cal
home network home network
correspondent  call remains routed correspondent  call remains routed
Home Home
MSC through anchor MSC MSC through anchor MSC
 new MSCs add on to end  new MSCs add on to end
anchor MSC anchor MSC
PSTN of MSC chain as mobile PSTN of MSC chain as mobile
MSC MSC
moves to new MSC moves to new MSC
MSC MSC MSC MSC
 IS-41 allows optional  IS-41 allows optional
path minimization step path minimization step
to shorten multi-MSC to shorten multi-MSC
chain chain
(a) before handoff (b) after handoff

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-65 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-66

Mobility: GSM versus Mobile IP Wireless, mobility: impact on higher layer protocols
GSM element Comment on GSM element Mobile IP element
Home system Network to which mobile user’s permanent Home  logically, impact should be minimal …
phone number belongs network
best effort service model remains unchanged

Gateway Mobile Home MSC: point of contact to obtain routable Home agent
Switching Center, or address of mobile user. HLR: database in  TCP and UDP can (and do) run over wireless, mobile
“home MSC”. Home home system containing permanent phone
Location Register number, profile information, current location of  … but performance-wise:
(HLR) mobile user, subscription information
 packet loss/delay due to bit-errors (discarded
Visited System Network other than home system where Visited
mobile user is currently residing network packets, delays for link-layer retransmissions), and
Visited Mobile Visited MSC: responsible for setting up calls Foreign agent handoff
services Switching to/from mobile nodes in cells associated with
 TCP interprets loss as congestion, will decrease
Center. MSC. VLR: temporary database entry in
Visitor Location visited system, containing subscription congestion window un-necessarily
Record (VLR) information for each visiting mobile user
 delay impairments for real-time traffic
Mobile Station Routable address for telephone call segment Care-of-
Roaming Number between home MSC and visited MSC, visible address  limited bandwidth of wireless links
(MSRN), or “roaming to neither the mobile nor the correspondent.
number”
6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-67 6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-68
Chapter 6 Summary
Wireless Mobility
 wireless links:  principles: addressing,
 capacity, distance routing to mobile users
 channel impairments  home, visited networks
 CDMA  direct, indirect routing
 IEEE 802.11 (“wi-fi”)  care-of-addresses
 CSMA/CA reflects  case studies
wireless channel  mobile IP
characteristics  mobility in GSM
 cellular access  impact on higher-layer
 architecture
protocols
 standards (e.g., GSM,
CDMA-2000, UMTS)

6: Wireless and Mobile Networks 6-69