Mobility management signalling in satellite mobile networks

The implications of some location techniques when applied to satellite mobile networks are examined. Several types of location techniques are possible, but all of them have different implications in the mobility management procedures. A trade-off between paging and location registration signalling is always present. The database contents might be different according to the applied location technique. The location technique is based on a fixed location area particular to each mobile terminal (MT). A network architecture for an MEO constellation with 14 satellites is presented. Six FESs are enough to have the constant control of all the satellites in the constellation and to implement the mobility management functions. Two types of FESs are defined: FESs which have to perform the resources management of the system and FESs with the only objective of landing MT calls to interface with the terrestrial network. A possible physical location for the PESs responsible for the resources management has also been found. The distribution of the other type of FESs must be performed based on traffic requirements.