Broadband interworking architecture (BRAIN) for future mobile multimedia systems

The next generation of mobile systems, such as the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) and International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT-2000) are expected to offer a greater range of flexible services including multimedia on the move. Whilst such a requirement demands the development of a new radio interface standard the core networks that support such access cannot be ignored. The current generation of mobile core networks are generally optimised for speech transport. For UMTS core networks the vision is one of convergence through integration of fixed and mobile networks for the support of mobile multimedia systems providing a single platform for telecommunications and information technology services. In order to realise this vision a core network architecture is required to provide a target for which the evolution from current mobile core networks can be planned. With this in mind and based on emerging network solutions the broadband internetworking "BRAIN" architecture was developed. This paper discusses the main features and mechanism that constitute the BRAIN architecture and how these will meet the requirements of the next-generation mobile systems.