Modified tree structure for location management in mobile environments

In this paper we suggest a new data structure for location management in mobile networks. The data structure is based on the tree location database structure. We suggest replacing the root and some of the higher levels of the tree with another structure that balances the average load of search requests. For this modification we use a set-ary butterfly network, which is a generalization of the well-known k-ary butterfly. We also suggest modifying the lowest level of the tree to reflect neighbouring geographical regions more accurately, and to support simple location data management. The modification of the lowest level also supports simple handoffs. The update of the proposed location database ensures correct location data following any number of transient faults that corrupt the location database information, and thus is self-stabilizing.