Cordless and Portable Computing in a Wireless Office Environment
bY
Peter Wong and Fred Halsall
Department of Electronic Engineering, University College of Swansea
Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK
Abstract
The ability of a network to support mobile
terminals lies very much in the network a r c t i ”
and the protocols used. In this paper, the impact of
mobile computers on the existing LAN architecture
and the network protocols used are studied . A
robust network architecture based on the DECT
system (Digital European Cordless
Telecommunications) is proposed. together with
appropriate interworking procedures. which enable
the network and protocols such as TCPllP
(Transmission Control Promlllnternet Protocol) to
handle mobile computing.
Introduction
The advent of laptop, notebook and more recently
palmtop computers is giving rise to a rapid increase
in demand for portable computers. Although in
some instances these computers are used in a stand-
alone mode, in others there is a need for them to
access services available h g h existing fixed-wire
networks such as local area networks (LANs).
Although much attention has been given to the
development of high bit rate wireless LANs. little
anention has been given to the connection of
portable computers to existing fixed-wire LANs and
the ability to support mobile computing [I].
This paper looks at the network infrastructure to
support terminal mobility and the impact this has on
the protocols used. A robust network architecture
supporting mobility in local and private networks is
proposed based on the Digital European Cordless
Telecommunications ( D E 0 standard. Also. how
the TCPllP protocol suite can be used to support
mobile computmg.
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Portable Computing Requirements
In order to identi@ the requirements relating to
portable computing, consider a typical application in
which a user visiting a site - a campus or company
for example - wishes to use his or her portable
computer to log onto a server that is connected to
the LAN at their home site. Typically this maybe b
access files and spreadsheets which are to be
discussed at a meeting for example. copies of
documents for circulation can then be retrieved from
the remote server and if necessary, printed locally.
This can be achieved by providing a Wireless radio
connection into the site fixed-wire LAN and from
there, through an appropriate connection (either the
internet or the private or public network) to the
home site.
A study of the user requirements of portable
terminals has shown that bandwidth is not of key
importance since most user tn” ‘om are
relatively short and involve only a modest amount of
data. Simulations for wireless access to an Ethernet
over a 32 kbps duplex DECT channel for an
interactive TCPllP connection using TELNET (a
remote login application) P] have shown that the
additional delays intrcduced by the radio link
(through the limited badwidth and error control)
are minimal when compared to the overall
transaction time. n i s is shown in figure 1, where
the times for the transmission of hte frames over the
ethemet for a typical TELNET user transaction
comprisii of a login procedure, a directory and file
listing, closing with a logout procedure, are shown
and compared for a similar transaction over a fixed
wire medium when a wireless access into a fixed
network is used. As can be concluded from the two
sets of results, the added overheads resulting from
the DECT radio link are negligible for transactions
 of this type. The major issue when supporting
terminal mobility, therefore is not bandwidth but
rather the ability of the network architecture and its
associated communication protocols to support
terminal mobility.
In a portable computing environment, it will be
expected of mobile terminals to roam about a
network, for example interdepamnent or buildings.
In such an event, the network must be informed of
the new location of the mobile terminal and update
its location database, i.e. mobility management.
'Ihi requires the updating of location infomation
when a portable roams about various domains in a
network. Another issue is the ability of the protocols
used on the fixed network to support mobile
terminals. One of the most popular of LAN
protocols is TCPIIP, however, it only serves fixed
terminals on the network. In order for TCPllP to
handle mobile terminals, interworking procedures
need to be defined. to enable TCP/IP to be used as
an end to end protocol between mobile and fixed
terminals transparently. Clearly, two key issues
need to be closely addressed, the first concerning the
network infrastructure whereby unique location
areas need to be defined in a network and secondly
involving the protocol and the interworking
procedures required to support mobility. The
following sections will address these issues closely.
Network Architectures Supporting
Mobility
As an example of a network architecture supporting
the mobility of terminals. the recently defined
DECT system is used. as it provides a hierarchical
set of identities for the unique definition of location
areas in a local and private network scenario IJ].
The DECT network is cellular in nature and consists
of Base Stations known as Radio Fixed Parts (RFP).
serving a community of Portable Terminals known
as Cordless Portable Parts (CPP). The RFPs provide
a pico-cellular coverage of around 200 metres
indoors and are connected to a network element
h w n as the Common Control Fixed Part (CCFP).
From this. connections are controlled and routed to
the private or public network. The CCFP is also
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linked to the two network databases, the Home Data
Base (HDB) and Visitor Data Base (VDB), which
contain user information such as addresses,
identities, current location etc. The various
components making up the DECT network
architecture are shown in figure 2.
The construction of a robust network architecture is
achieved through the hierarchical dimensioning of
the network into unique Location areas and domains
in the context of the network infrastructure.
Location ares can be defined as the area governed
by a cluster of base stations. Typically, this can be a
building or a department, such as that shown in the
figure. When a portable terminal enters a new
location area, it will be required of it to update its
location. All base stations within a location area will
broadcast the same identity periodically to inform
portables of the domain it is entering and may
request the portable terminal to update its location.
The procedure of location updating enables the
network to track the portable's current location
accurately, when a different domain is entered and
this information is stored in the HDB or VDB.
Several Location areas make up a local network site
and is controlled by a Common Control Fixed Part
(CCFP) with its own HDB and VDB. Private
networks can further be constructed with a group of
local networks, each with unique location areas.
Through such a hierarchical architecture, large
private networks can be created and the mobility of
terminals can be managed in a controlled manner.
In such a network, as illustrated in figure 2, each
department make up a location area. Within this
domain, base stations possess the same subnetwork
identity and are attached to the fixed wire LAN to
handle LAN traffic as well as to carry voice traffic.
Assuming TCP/IP is operating on the LAN, each
base station will possess an Internet address within
the sub-network, like a terminal on the network. The
form of addressing as used in the figure is of the
Class B Internet Address (Class B IP addressing
consists of a 14 bit netid and a 16 bit hostid) with
subnet routing, as this form of addressing is fairly
common. Details of sub-network addressing has
been included at the end of the paper.
Based on subnet addressing techniques, it is
therefore proposed that all portable terminals within
 the local network be categorised into a mobile sub-
network for portable terminals only (in the figure,
sub-network 15 is allocated to portable terminals)
i.e. a virtual subnetwork, for easier management of
portable terminals. Hence portables belonging to a
network will possess the same Internet portion of the
addresses with other fixed terminals but will have a
separate mobile sub-network physical address.
When the mobile terminal with an IP address
137.44.15.2 visits department Y, upon arrival, it
will realise from the broadcasts of the RFP that it is
in a different location area from what it was
previously in. It will then be required to update its
location information at the HDB. If it wishes to
access the fixed wire LAN services, it will gain
through one of the RFR on the visited network,
using the IP translation procedures described in the
following sections. The RFP essentially translates
the Mobile IP address to that suitable for routing on
the fixed wire network.
Achieving Protocol Transparency
Considering TCPnP is operating end-toad between
the portable and the fixed terminals on the Ethernet,
the protocol stack used is illustrated as follows. The
base station which is aaached on the ethernet
(shown in figure 2) acts as an intermediary and
relays the DECT packets to and from the Ethernet
between the portable and fixed terminals.
TCPnP packets arriving at the DECT protocol
layers at the portable terminal are first fragmented.
the DLC layer ensuring that the packets are
transmitted and received correctly and in order. The
MAC layer is responsible for the setting up and
clearing of calls and the PHY layer ensures the
frequency and timing synchronisation is achieved
with the base station. Upon re-assembly of the
DECT fragments, the RFP translates the IP address
to one assigned by the base station, for routing
purposes, and encapsulates the original datagram
into Ethernet format. The reverse process applies
when the fixed terminal sends a reply to the portable
terminal.
513
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When a TCPlIP frame arrives at the DLC layer of
the CPP, it is fragmented and appended with
overheads for error and flow control prior to
transmission over the radio link. At the base station,
upon reception, the frame is reconstructed and is
prepared for transmission over the Ethernet. The
base stations which are strategically located to
provide uniform radio coverage, upon reception of a
packet with an IP address of a CPP, makes a note of
the IP address of the CPP with the time slot
assigned. The RFP, then invokes the IP translation
module which replaces the IP address in the packet
from the CPP with an Ip dynamically allocated for
by the base station. This Dynam~c IP (DIP),
assigned by the RFP is unique within the domain of
the sub-network for routing purposes. Within a sub-
network, the DIP assigned by the RFIJ will possess
similar Internet and Physical Network address, only
the host portion is assigned dynamically. The RFP
maintains a table of portables it is serving, keeping
account of mobile IP addresses, time slot used and
Dynamic IP assigned. In order that each dynamic IP
is uniquely assigned, all base stations will be
required to interrogate the HDB before assigning a
DIP (When a call terminates, the DIP within the
sub-network is free and can be re-assigned). Hence,
the HDB keeps a database of all portable terminal's
Mobile IPS (CPPs) and Dynamic Ips (RFP) used
during a connection.
Once a Dynamic IP is assigned, it replaces the
Mobile IP when the packet is traversing the fixed
network for routing purposes. The new TCPllP
packet, with the Dynamic IP of the RFP is then
encapsulated with the Ethernet MAC address of the
RFP and broadcasted to the host I server (assuming
the MAC address of the host has been resolved hy
the Address Resolution Protocol). The host, replies
appropriately back to the Dynamic IP. The RFP,
seeing that the IP address is one of the DIPS it is
serving, accepts the packet, removes the Ethernet
header and relates the dynamic IP to the appropriate
Mobile IP of the CPP and time slot assigned by the
RFP. Following this, it formats the packet for
transmission over the DECT radio link. Figure 3
summarises the transparent IP translation
procedures.
 From the figure, Mobile IP addresses (belonging to
Mobile sub-network domain) on packets are relayed
over the radio. On reception, the Mobile IP address
is then replaced with the Dynamic IP address of the
sub-network by the RFT. The RFP mahtaim a table
of CPPs it is Senring, relating Mobile IPs with the
time slot used over DECT and the Dynamic IP
assigned. The packet, with the DrPlrp and MAC*
are then transmitted o m the Ethernet. The host /
server replies with its source IP and MAC address
together with the dessination DIP and MAC address
of the RFP. The RFT then looks at the table and
translates the DIP back to the CPPs Mobile IP and
transmits over the time slot assigned back to the
CPP, achieving piotocol transparency between
portable and fixed termiaals.
7he RFP. therefore behaves as a router. or more
appropriately, a "radio router", routing
TCPIIPIDECT frames onto the Ethermt and
relaying TCPllp1802.3 frames from the E & m c
back to the CPP.
Using this transparent interworking scheme. TCPIIP
based DECT terminals are able to gain access to the
fixed wire network via the base station on the
network. This transparent interworking technique is
not only limited to DECT but can be used for any
TCPllP based Wireless LAN systems intending to
support mobile terminals. The heart of the
interworking techniques lie in the base station,
which performs the buffering of frames to and from
the network and d a t i o n of mobile IP addresses
to Dynamic IP addresses and vice-versa. The
procedure just described enables existing TCPlIP
implementations to be adopted to support mobility of
portable terminals without any modifications. This
eases the implementation of such a service on a
LAN suppo- TCPIIP.
Conclusion
The use of TCPlIP in a wireless LAN environment
has been eddressed to support the mobility of
portable terminals. Different types of connections
and mobility scenarios were, with solutions based on
the Dynarmc lP (DIP) interworking technique. A
robust network architecture for DECT has been
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constructed, supporting private wtworks based on
hierarchically dimensioning the network into local
networLs and sub-network. This a r c b t e "
supports smaller, more amageable networks in the
management of mobility informaton. A "radii
router' has also been proposed to achieve the
transparent interworking of IP protoaAs between the
wireless and fixed network using IP relay. for the
translation of IP addresses suitable for routing in the
fixed network.
Sub-Network addressing has the advantage of
hierarchical routing, in which the first two octets of
the32bitIPaddress(Octetsl and2)representthe
top level of the muting hierarchy, the core gateway
system or the Internet part of the address. Octets 3
and 4 represent the l o d part of the address, for
identifying a host within the network. The Internet
portion of the address therefore identifies the
location of a site and the local portion identifies a
host on that site. Quite often, of the two octets in the
local portion of the address. one octet is used to
identify a physical network, and the other to identify
a host within that physical network [4].
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge that the
work was carried out as part of the DTIISERC
LINK Personal co"unicatiom programnu:
References
[ I ] loannidis 1. D
um D,Maguire G,"IP based
Rotocols for Mobile Internetworting", ACM
Sigcomm 91. Sept 1991
[2] Wong P. Halsall F. " Portable Computing in a
DECT Rmdio Environment'. Roc. E E I Ith
Teletraffic Symposium, April 93. BT Laboratories.
UK, 1993
131 ETSI. = DECT Common Interface : Identities
and Addressing Part 6 '1992
141 Comer DE, "InternetworkingWith TCPIIP
Volume 1 : Principles, Protocols and Architecture",
Second Edition, Rentice-Hall. 1992
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516

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