Guest Editorial
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| Title | Guest Editorial |
| Authors | |
| Abstract | With the emerging wireless technologies, mobility has more generic meaning than just node movement as in the traditional sense. It also means that when the operational environment changes (such as frequency and power), a node or the network adapts to the environmental changes, which requires the cognitive capability. On one hand, it is of critical importance that seamless, low latency, and transparent services are provided to the users, via potentially multiple heterogeneous wireless technologies during the course of node movement or environmental changes. This is particularly challenging if infrastructure networks are absent. Environment cognizance, mobility management, and vertical handoff become critical components in the solution space of seamless mobility support. On the other hand, host and network mobility also affects the performance of network protocols significantly, which in turn makes mobility adaptability an important design issue. This asks the design of wireless architectures, protocols, spectrum management, and mobility management mechanisms to be revisited. Traditional infrastructure-based approach is not sufficient to tackle all the challenges manifested today.In view of the advances in wireless technologies and the growing demand of mobile services, this special issue is dedicated to the recent advances in architecture, system, protocol, modeling, and testbed design, as well as emerging applications and standards to enable seamless mobility and transparency in wireless networks. The aim of this special issue is to enhance the understanding of the holistic picture for providing seamless mobility in wireless networks.After a peer-reviewing process, for this special issue, we selected nine high-quality papers. The selected papers cover general areas of wireless mobility, including mobility in mobile Internet, mobility in heterogeneous wireless networks, mobility in multihop wireless networks, and security during mobility. In the following, we briefly summarize the papers included in this special issue.Mobility in Mobile Internet: The first paper “Distributed and Dynamic Mobility Management in Mobile Internet: Current Approaches and Issues” by H. A. Chan, H. Yokota, J. Xie, P. Seite, and D. Liu, surveys existing mobility management solutions in mobile Internet, explains the limitations of a centralized mobility management approach, and discusses potential approaches of distributing mobility management functions. The issues and challenges in the design of distributed and dynamic mobility management are also described in the paper. Mobility in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks: There are three papers in this issue addressing the seamless handoff issue in heterogeneous wireless networks with multi-interface mobile devices. The second paper “An Integrated Multi-layer Approach for Seamless Soft Handoff in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks” by H. Zeng, J. H. Li, S. Das, A. McAuley, J. Lee, T. Stuhrmann, and M. Gerla, presents an integrated framework and a cross-layer approach to realize seamless soft handoffs in heterogeneous wireless networks with multiple interfaces. Both simulation and emulation with real wireless hardware are conducted to demonstrate that transparent user application can be achieved using the proposed integrated multi-layer handoff approach. The third paper “Minimum-Risk Layer 2 Trigger Levels for Proactive Media-Independent Handovers” by D. Griffith, A. Delye, and N. Golmie, proposes a weighted risk function that can be used to determine the optimal link going down (LGD) trigger threshold under IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover (MIH). The proposed risk function characterizes the signaling overhead of triggering an anticipated handoff and the mean time required for a handoff completion. Simulation results show that network operators can use the proposed risk function to devise event trigger thresholds that optimize the handoff performance. The fourth paper “A Software Architecture for Network-Assisted Handover in IEEE 802.21” by C. Cicconetti, F. Galeassi, and R. Mambrini, proposes a Media Independent Information Service (MIIS) architecture and procedures that enable network-assisted handoffs. The proposed network-assisted handoff can reduce the energy consumption of mobile nodes due to scanning. The authors implemented a prototype to prove the feasibility of the proposed solution. Mobility in Multihop Wireless Networks: There are four papers in this issue addressing the routing and data dissemination issues in multihop wireless networks. The fifth paper “A Discussion on Developing Multihop Routing Metrics Sensitive to Node Mobility” by N. Chama and R. Sofia, discusses several parameters and heuristics that can assist multihop routing more sensitive to node mobility. The sixth paper “Adaptive Localized Active Route Maintenance Mechanism to Improve Performance of VoIP over Ad Hoc Networks” by A. S. Otero and M. Atiquzzaman, develops a route maintenance mechanism that enables real-time communications in mobile ad hoc networks. The proposed mechanism can recognize, respond, and recover quickly from link breaks due to node mobility and maintain on-going communications. Experimental results from a testbed show the improvement of the proposed mechanism in the response time to link failures and overall network performance. The seventh paper “Mobility-adaptive Routing for Stable Transmission in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks” by X. Hu, J. Wang, and C. Wang, focuses on the adaptability of the constructed route to node mobility. A routing algorithm is proposed to select the most stable route. Simulation results show that the proposed mobility-adaptive routing algorithm can provide good network performance in mobile network environments. The eighth paper “I2V Highway and Urban Vehicular Networks: A Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Mobility on Broadcast Data Dissemination” by S. Busanelli, G. Ferrari, and V. A. Giorgio, analyzes the impact of vehicular mobility on the data dissemination performance in infrastructure-to- vehicular (I2V) IEEE 802.11 networks. Both highway and urban scenarios are considered in the analysis. Both per-packet and per-flow performance is analyzed using numerical simulations. Security during Mobility: The last paper “Securing Host-Based Mobility and Multi-Homing Protocols against On-Path Attackers” by G. K. Hampel and V. Kolesnikov, presents a balanced security solution that protects host-based mobility and multi-homing protocols against on-path attackers. The proposed solution is based on proof of session ownership using secret/answer chains as well as temporal separation and routability tests. We hope this special issue can give readers an overview of the state-of-the art technologies, challenges, and trends in supporting seamless mobility in wireless networks. We also hope that the research papers in this special issue can sparkle further research in one of the most prevailing and ever important issues in current and future wireless networks: seamless wireless mobility. We would like to sincerely thank all the reviewers who provided timely and constructive feedback to the authors. We also thank all the authors for their high-quality contributions to this special issue. We thank the staff at JCM Academy Publisher for their efficient job in handling the manuscripts. Finally, we would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief of JCM, Dr. Haohong Wang, for his guidance and assistance with this special issue. |
| Publisher | ACADEMY PUBLISHER |
| Date | 2011-02-01 |
| Source | Journal of Communications Vol 6, No 1 (2011): Special Issue: Seamless Mobility in Wireless Networks |
| Rights | Copyright © ACADEMY PUBLISHER - All Rights Reserved.To request permission, please check out URL: http://www.academypublisher.com/copyrightpermission.html. |