Location/Situation-Aware Architecture for Mobility Management over Heterogeneous networks

The 4G converged wireless network may benefit by the capability of exploiting location/situation information for more efficient "seamless" integration of heterogeneous radio access networks. In this framework, the paper defines the architecture able to collect the location/situation information, process it and distribute it to the network nodes that will exploit it to successfully implement location/situation aware mobility management mechanisms. Since the architecture is distributed and must interact with different technologies and layers, a multi agent-based middleware has been chosen to implement some components of the proposed communication platform. Moreover, the paper presents a vertical handover decision criterion that combines location/situation information. Challenges and open issues of this new research area are discussed.