Mobility management in ambient networks

Allowing a user to remain connected to the network whilst on the move is becoming a common requirement for any new communication system. The EU project Ambient Networks, therefore, considers mobility requirements and techniques in some depth. Two key ideas have been developed: the handover toolbox which contains and manages a variety of mobility protocols, handover techniques and, in particular, mobility optimisations; and the concept of routing groups, the establishment of which enables the mobility optimisations such as delegation of mobility management and aggregation of mobility signalling. In this paper we present these ideas and show how they are aligned with the Ambient Networks principles of being easily deployable, adaptable, and able to support heterogeneous network configurations.