Path Location Register for Next-Generation Heterogeneous Mobile Networks

Deployment of a global all IP wireless/mobile network is not a straightforward decision. Heterogeneous mobile networks combined with wireless “hot-spot” locations seams to be one of the most realistic early deployments. Commercial public wireless LAN solutions however offer proprietary location management capabilities compared to the traditional cellular networks. The increasing demands for heterogeneous services necessitate fast and efficient location management mechanisms that allow the future personal communication service network to locate mobile users roaming across different systems. This paper introduces and analyzes a Path Location Register (PLR) mechanism for Location Management that reduces significantly the cost of mobile terminal location update and paging. The performance evaluation of the PLR scheme demonstrates its effectiveness in next generation heterogeneous mobile networks.