Integrated solutions for wireless MPLS and Mobile IP: current status and future directions

Mobile IP (MIP) has been chosen as the core of the mobility management mechanism for wireless LANs, 3G cellular networks and, most recently, aeronautical networks. It is viewed as a key element in providing a universal roaming solution across different types of networks. However, MIP, in its basic form, inherits the IP incapability to provide quality of service (QoS) guarantees. This ramifies with MIP´s lack of support for seamless intra-domain mobility. The paper surveys the current efforts to enhance the MIP QoS functionality via extensions for multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), both in the venues of research and standardization. It first gives a brief overview of MIP and MPLS, together with their combined shortcomings in maintaining QoS delivery to the mobile end user. From there it examines the different initiatives to extend MPLS for Mobile IP. Finally, an overview of issues that are yet to be addressed is presented.