Hierarchical mobile MPLS: supporting delay sensitive applications over wireless Internet

Mobile MPLS is a new scheme that integrates Mobile IP and MPLS protocols to support mobility to MPLS. However, some wireless networks have been implemented based on small-size cells (micro-cells) to allow higher system capacity. Micro-cell implementation will increase the handoff rate of the mobile hosts dramatically. So in such an environment, MPLS based on normal Mobile IP is no longer an optimal solution. To overcome the limitations of the Mobile IP protocol, in this paper we propose hierarchical mobile MPLS that is a practical approach to support local mobility for MPLS. We also propose a fast signaling process to support a "make-before-break" mechanism in mobile MPLS. An LSP is established before the mobile host moves into a new foreign network. We demonstrate through simulations, that with hierarchical mobile MPLS, the delay the mobile hosts experience during handoff periods is considerably decreased. Taking into consideration the growing popularity of wireless networks and wireless Internet, the sensitivity of several core applications-such as voice and video-to delays and delay jitter, the move towards pervasive computing and the use of smart intelligent appliances (e.g. sensors, monitors etc.), which might be supporting applications sensitive to delays and jitter (e.g. security, health, tele-control etc.) it is important that our wireless networks become capable of providing low delay guarantees. Our work is a positive step towards this direction.