On Protection Schemes in MPLS-based Radio Access Networks

Abstract:
Reliability of IP-based radio access networks is an important issue to ensure reliable mobile services. This paper studies the application of different protection schemes to Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks. Previous work on MPLS protections schemes has exclusively focused on backbone networks rather than radio access networks. We identify the differences between backbone and access networks with respect to protection schemes. In addition, we discuss the impact of MPLS-based micro-mobility solutions, QoS and management issues. Different from the pre-reservation-based protection schemes known from literature, a more applicable approach is proposed and analytically evaluated. This approach accelerates the label switched path (LSP) repair process but without relying on hard reservations. Our study is based on well known reference networks added by three larger networks. Our results show that the previously used reference networks are insufficient to study the performance of protection schemes, especially of radio access networks. Considering their specific requirements and the possibility of LSP rejections we show that simple local restoration schemes perform best.