Mobility Management for BSM

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is currently specifying standards for Broadband Satellite Multimedia (BSM). This paper presents an overview on a possible Mobility Management (MM) architecture for BSM, where Satellite Independent Access Function (SIAF) for handover are defined over the SI-SAP interface to enable upper layer access to lower layers and to connect SIAF with the Satellite Dependent Access Function (SDAF). The MM architecture takes into account work currently being carried out in IEEE802.21, where Media Independent Handover Function (MIHF) is defined for interworking between heterogeneous 802 networks and between 802 and other terrestrial mobile networks through the support of three services for handover, namely, Media Independent Event Services (MIES), Media Independent Command Services (MICS) and Media Independent Information Services (IIS). The synergy of the IEEE802.21 MIHF with the BSM SI-SAP makes it an ideal reference framework for the development of the BSM mobility management architecture and for the harmonization of future integration between BSM and terrestrial networks.