Mobility Management for All-IP Core Network
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Mobility Management for All-IP Core Network Mobility Management All-IP Core Network Standardization Special Articles on SAE Standardization Technology Mobility Management for All-IP Core Network †1 PMIPv6 is a network-based IP mobility management proto- DOCOMO Communications Laboratories Europe Julien Laganier GmbH col which is adopted in the 3GPP Release 8 SAE standard- Takeshi Higuchi†0 †0 ization. It allows mobile-terminal mobility management that Core Network Development Department Katsutoshi Nishida is independent of the type of access system or terminal capa- †0 bilities. NTT DOCOMO completed the standardization of †0 PMIPv6 with the IETF and contributed proactively to its adoption in the standardization of SAE. transmission path for packets addressed With the 3GPP [3], it secured prospects 1. Introduction to the IP address assigned to mobile ter- for finalizing the EPC architecture and Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6), minals, PMIPv6 is able to achieve the standardizing PMIPv6 with the IETF, which is an IP-based mobility manage- efficient packet transfer required by an and it also completed 3GPP standard- ment*1 protocol actively promoted by All-IP Network (AIPN)*3, and flexible ization work for PMIPv6 in the 3GPP NTT DOCOMO, was adopted in the QoS*4 and policy management*5 Core Network & Terminals (CT) WG4. Evolved Packet Core (EPC) specifica- through Policy and Charging Control In this article, we describe the IP tion, a provision in the 3GPP Release 8 (PCC) [1]. PMIPv6 also improves on mobility management requirements for System Architecture Evolution (SAE) utilization of wireless resources, hand- the AIPN. We also review standardiza- standardization. PMIPv6 is a common over performance, user privacy and net- tion activities with the IETF and 3GPP, mobility management approach that work security compared to the previous describe the features of the PMIPv6 supports mobility of terminals not only IP mobility management protocol, protocol and give an overview of its within Long Term Evolution (LTE) Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) [2]. operation. radio access, but also spanning various NTT DOCOMO contributed proac- other access systems including LTE tively, since the Internet Engineering 2. IP Mobility Manage- radio access, 3G radio access, Wireless Task Force (IETF) Network-based ment Requirements LAN (WLAN), WiMAX and radio Localized Mobility Management Work- for Mobile Commu- access standards from the 3rd Genera- ing Group (NETLMM WG) was estab- nications Operators tion Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2)*2. lished in 2005 until completion of the Since 2004, NTT DOCOMO By specializing only on managing the PMIPv6 specification in May 2008. actively proposed basic principles and *1 Mobility management: Management of ter- that is standardizing the cdma2000 technical minals which provides transmission, reception specifications, which are part of the IMT-2000 and continuous communication even if termi- specifications. nals move. *3 AIPN: A general term for the next generation *2 3GPP2: A Third-Generation Mobile Commu- core network which will use IP technology and nication System (3G) standardization project accommodate various access systems. 34 NTT DOCOMO Technical Journal Vol. 11 No. 3 requirements for an AIPN to the 3GPP munication quality must remain high In January 2006, a number of lead- Service & Systems Aspects (SA) WG1, during handover, from a user-service ing telecommunications manufacturers with the goal of realizing a common perspective. Mobility management and operators, including NTT DOCOMO, core network independent of the radio must be achieved seamlessly, so that formed the NETLMM WG in the Inter- access system [3][4]. In parallel with users can perceive no interruption in net Area of the IETF. The NETLMM this, NTT DOCOMO also studied communications while moving within WG was formed to specify a network- existing IP mobility management mech- and between different radio access sys- based mobility management protocol anisms to determine whether they meet tems. which required no involvement from mobile operator requirements as Finally, mobility management must the mobile terminal while allowing it to described below. meet mobile-operator-level require- keep the same IP address when handed The first requirement for an AIPN ments for network security and user pri- over from one access router to another. is to accommodate a wide variety of IP- vacy, despite being IP-based. As an This basic concept was derived from technology-based wired and radio example, it is important to prevent leak- requirements analysis and study by the access systems (3G, LTE, WLAN, age of network topology information*7, initial members of the NETLMM WG. WiMAX, etc.), allowing mobility in order to minimize potential security The NETLMM WG first analyzed between them. This is the key principle risks such as Distributed Denial of Ser- existing protocols [6], clarified the of an AIPN, and the fundamental vice (DDoS) attacks*8. For user privacy, requirements [7], and prescribed the requirement for mobility management. information related to the user’s loca- functions required for a network-based The second requirement is that tion, such as their IP addresses, must mobility management protocol as described mobility management must achieve not be notified to the correspondent above. A protocol design team includ- efficient packet transmission. An AIPN user or server without the user’s per- ing members from NTT DOCOMO must be able to process huge volumes mission. was then formed to develop a protocol of IP packets with minimum transmis- satisfying the agreed-upon objectives in sion delay, in anticipation of the spread 3. Standardization the WG. The design team established a of rich communications*6 services and Activities Related to base protocol supporting the required the accompanying increase in IP-packet IP Mobility Manage- functions. Then, taking into considera- traffic. ment tion the views of standardization orga- The third requirement is that wire- 3.1 Standardization Activities nizations such as WiMAX and 3GPP2 less resources must be used efficiently, at the IETF that compatibility with MIPv6 was nec- to accommodate radio access. Wireless Through our investigation of exist- essary, the NETLMM WG created a resources are shared by all users under ing IP mobility management protocols PMIPv6 specification [8] implementing the same radio access point so, to use based on the above requirements, we the required base-protocol functions as them efficiently, transport overhead and concluded it was necessary to create an extension to MIPv6. This was based mobility-management signaling must and standardize a new mobility man- on the basic IETF policy that protocols be minimized. Minimizing over-the-air agement protocol to satisfying AIPN implementing AIPN must be unified. signaling can also help reduce power requirements. Thus, we began standard- After standardization with the consumption in mobile terminals. ization work with the IETF, where IP IETF, various functional extensions to The fourth requirement is that com- protocol standards are created. the PMIPv6 protocol have been studied *4 QoS: A level of quality on the network that transmission permissions, based on network *7 Network topology information: Informa- can be set for each service. The amount of and subscriber information. tion related to network architecture such as IP delay or packet loss is controlled by controlling *6 Rich communication: A new form of com- addresses. the bandwidth used. munication merging individual forms of com- *5 Policy management: Technology for man- munication such as voice, messaging and video aging communications, such as QoS or packet sharing. NTT DOCOMO Technical Journal Vol. 11 No. 3 35 Mobility Management for All-IP Core Network and standardized, such as support for Companies concerned IPv4 [9], Generic Routing Encapsula- with specification creation tion (GRE)*9 [10], and Heartbeat Mech- *10 anism [11]. NTT DOCOMO 3.2 Cooperation between IETF and 3GPP Technical contributions of each company to the 3GPP and IETF The standardization activities for Proposed changes to IETF and 3GPP specification documents, etc. PMIPv6 at the IETF and 3GPP have Structure for cooperation between been achieved not only through cooper- standardization organizations Input of requirements from standardization organization, etc. ation between the two organizations, Sent to IETF liaison* but also with continuous contributions 3GPP IETF from member companies in both orga- Sent to 3GPP liaison nizations, as shown in Figure 1. IETF-Related document list NTT DOCOMO made many con- *Liaison: A official document sent for exchanging opinions between 3GPP WG and between the 3GPP and other standardization bodies. tributions to completing the PMIPv6 specifications, with technical contribu- Figure 1 Relationships between the IETF, 3GPP and related companies for standardization work tions to the IETF and 3GPP, as the specification document rapporteur for the 3GPP, providing leadership by sum- ing in development of an open, indus- one LMA for a given mobile terminal’s marizing discussion and guiding com- try-standard protocol and an architec- connection. pletion of related specifications, and by ture based upon the protocol. MAG nodes provide the mobility holding preliminary telephone confer- agent function*12 for mobility manage- ences. 4. Overview of the ment, managing mobility of the mobile Furthermore, synergy of Latest PMIPv6 terminal with respect to the LMA and NTT DOCOMO’s and other participat- Technology