Mobile Communications – Unit IV – Cheatsheet to a mobile host that this host receives the packet.

host that this host receives the packet. The IP layer can only guaran-
Mobile IP: Mobile IP are the extensions needed for the internet to support the tee that the IP address of the receiver is correct. There are no ways of preventing
mobility of hosts. Mobile IP adds mobility support to the internet network layer fake IP addresses or other attacks. According to Internet philosophy, this is left
protocol IP. While systems like GSM have been designed with mobility in mind, to higher layers (keep the core of the internet simple, push more complex
the internet started at a time when no one had thought of mobile computers. services to the edge).
Today’s internet lacks any mechanisms to support users traveling around the
world. IP is the common base for thousands of applications and runs over dozens
of different networks. This is the reason for supporting mobility at the IP layer;
mobile phone systems, for example, cannot offer this type of mobility for
heterogeneous networks. To merge the world of mobile phones with the
internet and to support mobility in the small more efficiently, so-called micro
mobility protocols have been developed.
Goals of Mobile IP: The internet is the network for global data communication
with hundreds of millions of users. So why not simply use a mobile computer in
the internet? The reason is quite simple: you will not receive a single packet as
soon as you leave your home network, i.e., the network your computer is
configured for, and reconnect your computer (wireless or wired) at another ● Mobile node (MN): A mobile node is an end-system or router that can change
place (if no additional mechanisms are available). The reason for this is quite its point of attachment to the internet using mobile IP. The MN keeps its IP
simple if you consider routing mechanisms on the internet. A host sends an IP address and can continuously communicate with any other system in the
packet with the header containing a destination address with other fields. The internet as long as link-layer connectivity is given. ● Correspondent node (CN):
destination address not only determines the receiver of the packet, but also the At least one partner is needed for communication. In the following the CN
physical subnet of the receiver. For example, the destination address represents this partner for the MN. The CN can be a fixed or mobile node.
129.13.42.99 shows that the receiver must be connected to the physical subnet ● Home network: The home network is the subnet the MN belongs to with
with the network prefix 129.13.42 (unless CIDR is used, RFC 1519, Fuller, 1993). respect to its IP address. No mobile IP support is needed within the home
Routers in the internet now look at the destination addresses of incoming network. ● Foreign network: The foreign network is the current subnet the MN
packets and forward them according to internal look-up tables. To avoid an visits and which is not the home network. ● Foreign agent (FA): The FA can
explosion of routing tables, only prefixes are stored and further optimizations provide several services to the MN during its visit to the foreign network.
are applied. A router would otherwise have to store the addresses of all ● Care-of address (COA): The COA defines the current location of the MN from
computers in the internet, which is obviously not feasible. As long as the receiver an IP point of view. All IP packets sent to the MN are delivered to the COA, not
can be reached within its physical subnet, it gets the packets; as soon as it moves directly to the IP address of the MN. ● Home agent (HA): The HA provides
outside the subnet, a packet will not reach it. A host needs a so-called several services for the MN and is located in the home network. The tunnel for
topologically correct address. packets toward the MN starts at the HA. The HA maintains a location registry,
A more general architecture had to be designed to address this issue and Many i.e., it is informed of the MN’s location by the current COA. Three alternatives
field trials and proprietary systems finally led to mobile IP as a standard to for the implementation of an HA exist.
enable mobility in the internet. Several requirements accompanied the Mobile IP Packet Delivery:
development of the standard: ● Compatibility: The installed base of Internet
computers, i.e., computers running TCP/IP and connected to the internet, is
huge. A new standard cannot introduce changes for applications or network
protocols already in use. People still want to use their favorite browser for www
and do not want to change applications just for mobility, the same holds for
operating systems. Mobile IP has to be integrated into existing operating
systems or at least work with them (today it is available for many platforms).
Routers within the internet should not necessarily require other software. While
it is possible to enhance the capabilities of some routers to support mobility, it
is almost impossible to change all of them. Mobile IP has to remain compatible Figure 8.2 illustrates packet delivery to and from the MN using the example net-
with all lower layers used for the standard, non-mobile, IP. Mobile IP must not work of Figure 8.1. A correspondent node CN wants to send an IP packet to the
require special media or MAC/LLC protocols, so it must use the same interfaces MN. One of the requirements of mobile IP was to support hiding the mobility of
and mechanisms to access the lower layers as IP does. Finally, end-systems the MN. CN does not need to know anything about the MN’s current location
enhanced with a mobile IP implementation should still be able to communicate and sends the packet as usual to the IP address of MN (step 1). This means that
with fixed systems without mobile IP. Mobile IP has to ensure that users can still CN sends an IP packet with MN as a destination address and CN as a source
access all the other servers and systems in the internet. But that implies using address. The internet, not having information on the current location of MN,
the same address format and routing mechanisms. ● Transparency: Mobility routes the packet to the router responsible for the home network of MN. This is
should remain ‘invisible’ for many higher layer protocols and applications. done using the standard routing mechanisms of the internet. The HA now
Besides maybe noticing a lower bandwidth and some interruption in service, intercepts the packet, knowing that MN is currently not in its home network.
higher layers should continue to work even if the mobile computer has changed The packet is not forwarded into the subnet as usual, but encapsulated and
its point of attachment to the network. For TCP this means that the computer tunnelled to the COA. A new header is put in front of the old IP header showing
must keep its IP address as explained above. If the interruption of the the COA as new destination and HA as source of the encapsulated packet (step
connectivity does not take too long, TCP connections survive the change of the 2). The foreign agent now decapsulates the packet, i.e., removes the additional
attachment point. Clearly, many of today’s applications have not been designed header, and forwards the original packet with CN as source and MN as
for use in mobile environments, so the only effects of mobility should be a higher destination to the MN (step 3). Again, for the MN mobility is not visible. It
delay and lower bandwidth. However, there are some applications for which it receives the packet with the same sender and receiver address as it would have
is better to be ‘mobility aware’. Examples are cost-based routing or video done in the home network.
compression. Knowing that it is currently possible to use different networks, the Strategies for Agent Discovery: One initial problem of an MN after moving is how
software could choose the cheapest one. Or if a video application knows that to find a foreign agent. How does the MN discover that it has moved? For this
only a low bandwidth connection is currently available, it could use a different purpose mobile IP describes two methods: agent advertisement and agent
compression scheme. Additional mechanisms are necessary to inform these solicitation, which are in fact router discovery methods plus extensions. ● Agent
applications about mobility. ● Scalability and efficiency: Introducing a new advertisement: For the first method, foreign agents and home agents advertise
mechanism to the internet must not jeopardize its efficiency. Enhancing IP for their presence periodically using special agent advertisement messages. These
mobility must not generate too many new messages flooding the whole advertisement messages can be seen as a beacon broadcast into the subnet. For
network. Special care has to be taken considering the lower bandwidth of these advertisements Internet control message protocol (ICMP) messages are
wireless links. Many mobile systems will have a wireless link to an attachment used with some mobility extensions. Routers in the fixed network implementing
point, so only some additional packets should be necessary between a mobile this standard also advertise their routing service periodically to the attached
system and a node in the network. Looking at the number of computers links. Agent solicitation: If no agent advertisements are present or the inter-
connected to the internet and at the growth rates of mobile communication, it arrival time is too high, and an MN has not received a COA by other means, e.g.,
is clear that myriad devices will participate in the internet as mobile DHCP, the mobile node must send agent solicitations. Care must be taken to
components. Just think of cars, trucks, mobile phones, every seat in every plane ensure that these solicitation messages do not flood the network, but basically
around the world etc. – many of them will have some IP implementation inside an MN can search for an FA endlessly sending out solicitation messages.
and move between different networks and require mobile IP. It is crucial for a Typically, a mobile node can send out three solicitations, one per second, as
mobile IP to be scalable over a large number of participants in the whole soon as it enters a new network. It should be noted that in highly dynamic
internet, worldwide. ● Security: Mobility poses many security problems. The wireless networks with moving MNs and probably with applications requiring
minimum requirement is that of all the messages related to the management of continuous packet streams even one second intervals between solicitation
Mobile IP are authenticated. The IP layer must be sure that if it forwards a packet
messages might be too long. Before an MN even gets a new address many
packets will be lost without additional mechanisms.
Registration: Having received a COA, the MN has to register with the HA. The
main purpose of the registration is to inform the HA of the current location for
correct for- warding of packets. Registration can be done in two different ways
depending on the location of the COA. ● If the COA is at the FA, registration is
done as illustrated in Figure 8.4 (left). The MN sends its registration request
containing the COA (see Figure 8.5) to the FA which is forwarding the request to
the HA. The HA now sets up a mobility binding containing the mobile node’s
home IP address and the cur- rent COA. Additionally, the mobility binding One way to optimize the route is to inform the CN of the current location of the
contains the lifetime of the registration which is negotiated during the MN. The CN can learn the location by caching it in a binding cache which is a
registration process. Registration expires automatically after the lifetime and is part of the local routing table for the CN. The appropriate entity to inform the
deleted; so, an MN should reregister before expiration. This mechanism is CN of the location is the HA. The optimized mobile IP protocol needs four
necessary to avoid mobility bindings which are no longer used. After setting up additional messages. ● Binding request: Any node that wants to know the
the mobility binding, the HA sends a reply message back to the FA which current location of an MN can send a binding request to the HA. The HA can
forwards it to the MN. ● If the COA is co-located, registration can be simpler, as check if the MN has allowed dissemination of its current location. If the HA is
allowed to reveal the location it sends back a binding update. ● Binding update:
shown in Figure 8.4 (right). The MN may send the request directly to the HA and
vice versa. This, by the way, is also the registration procedure for MNs returning This message sent by the HA to CNs reveals the current location of an MN. The
to their home network. Here they also register directly with the HA. However, if message contains the fixed IP address of the MN and the COA. The binding
update can request an acknowledgement. ● Binding acknowledgement: If
the MN received an agent advertisement from the FA it should register via this
FA if the R bit is set in the advertisement. requested, a node returns this acknowledgement after receiving a binding
update message. ● Binding warning: If a node decapsulates a packet for an MN,
but it is not the current FA for this MN, this node sends a binding warning. The
warning contains MN’s home address and a target node address, i.e., the
address of the node that has tried to send the packet to this MN. The recipient
of the warning then knows that the target node could benefit from obtaining a
fresh binding for the MN. The recipient can be the HA, so the HA should now
send a binding update to the node that obviously has a wrong COA for the MN.

Tunneling: A tunnel establishes a virtual pipe for data packets between a tunnel
entry and a tunnel endpoint. Packets entering a tunnel are forwarded inside the
tunnel and leave the tunnel unchanged. Tunneling, i.e., sending a packet
through a tunnel, is achieved by using encapsulation. Encapsulation is the
mechanism of taking a packet consisting of packet header and data and putting
it into the data part of a new packet. The reverse operation, taking a packet out
of the data part of another packet, is called decapsulation. Encapsulation and
decapsulation are the operations typically performed when a packet is
transferred from a higher protocol layer to a lower layer or from a lower to a Reverse Tunneling: At first glance, the return path from the MN to the CN shown
higher layer respectively. Here these functions are used within the same layer. in Figure 8.2 looks quite simple. The MN can directly send its packets to the CN
This mechanism is shown in Figure 8.7 and describes exactly what the HA at the as in any other standard IP situation. The destination address in the packets is
tunnel entry does. The HA takes the original packet with the MN as destination, that of CN. But there are several severe problems associated with this simple
puts it into the data part of a new packet and sets the new IP header in such a solution. ● Firewalls: Almost all companies and many other institutions secure
way that the packet is routed to the COA. The new header is also called the outer their internal networks (intranet) connected to the internet with the help of a
header for obvious reasons. Additionally, there is an inner header which can be fire- wall. All data to and from the intranet must pass through the firewall.
identical to the original header as this is the case for IP-in-IP encapsulation, or Besides many other functions, firewalls can be set up to filter out malicious
the inner header can be computed during encapsulation. addresses from an administrator’s point of view. Quite often firewalls only allow
packets with topologically correct addresses to pass. ● Multi-cast: Reverse
tunnels are needed for the MN to participate in a multi- cast group. While the
nodes in the home network might participate in a multi-cast group, an MN in a
foreign network cannot transmit multi-cast packets in a way that they emanate
from its home network without a reverse tunnel. The foreign network might not
even provide the technical infrastructure for multi-cast communication (multi-
cast backbone, Mbone). ● TTL: Consider an MN sending packets with a certain
TTL while still in its home network. The TTL might be low enough so that no
packet is transmit- ted outside a certain region. If the MN now moves to a foreign
network, this TTL might be too low for the packets to reach the same nodes as
before. Mobile IP is no longer transparent if a user has to adjust the TTL while
moving. A reverse tunnel is needed that represents only one hop, no matter how
many hops are really needed from the foreign to the home network.
All these considerations led to defining reverse tunneling as an extension to
mobile IP bringing backwards-compatible to mobile IP and defines topologically
correct reverse tunneling as necessary to handle the problems described above.
Reverse tunneling was added as an option to mobile IP in the new standard
IPV6: While mobile IP was originally designed for IP version 4, IP version 6 makes
life much easier. Several mechanisms that had to be specified separately for
mobility support come free in IPv6. One issue is security with regard to
authentication, which is now a required feature for all IPv6 nodes. No special
mechanisms as add-ons are needed for securing mobile IP registration. Every
While IP-in-IP encapsulation and minimal encapsulation work only for IP, the IPv6 node masters address autoconfiguration – the mechanisms for acquiring a
following encapsulation scheme also supports other network layer protocols in COA are already built in. Neighbor discovery as a mechanism mandatory for
addition to IP. Generic routing encapsulation (GRE) allows the encapsulation of every node is also included in the specification; special foreign agents are no
packets of one protocol suite into the payload portion of a packet of another longer needed to advertise services. Combining the features of
protocol suite. Figure 8.10 shows this procedure. The packet of one protocol autoconfiguration and neighbor discovery means that every mobile node is able
suite with the original packet header and data is taken and a new GRE header is to create or obtain a topologically correct address for the current point of
prepended. Together this forms the new data part of the new packet. Finally, attachment. Every IPv6 node can send binding updates to another node, so the
the header of the second protocol suite is put in front. MN can send its current COA directly to the CN and HA. These mechanisms are
an integral part of IPv6. A soft handover is possible with IPv6. The MN sends its
new COA to the old router servicing the MN at the old COA, and the old router
encapsulates all incoming packets for the MN and forwards them to the new many additional problems that are discussed in the following paragraphs. Figure
COA. 8.20 gives a simple example of an ad-hoc network. At a certain time t1 the
IP Micro-mobility support: Mobile IP exhibits several problems regarding the network topology might look as illustrated on the left side of the figure. Five
duration of handover and the scalability of the registration procedure. Assuming nodes, N1 to N5, are connected depending on the current transmission
a large number of mobile devices changing networks quite frequently, a high characteristics between them. In this snapshot of the network, N4 can receive
load on the home agents as well as on the networks is generated by registration N1 over a good link, but N1 receives N4 only via a weak link. Links do not
and binding update messages. IP micro-mobility protocols can complement necessarily have the same characteristics in both directions. The reasons for this
mobile IP by offering fast and almost seamless handover control in limited are, e.g., different antenna characteristics or transmit power. N1 cannot receive
geographical areas. Cellular IP: Cellular IP provides local handovers without N2 at all, N2 receives a signal from N1. This situation can change quite fast as
renewed registration by installing a single cellular IP gateway (CIPGW) for each the snapshot at t2 shows. N1 cannot receive N4 any longer, N4 receives N1 only
domain, which acts to the outside world as a foreign agent (see Figure 8.14). via a weak link. But now N1 has an asymmetric but bi-directional link to N2 that
Inside the cellular IP domain, all nodes collect routing information for accessing did not exist before.
MNs based on the origin of packets sent by the MNs towards the CIPGW. Soft
handovers are achieved by allowing simultaneous forwarding of packets des-
tined for a mobile node along multiple paths. A mobile node moving between
adjacent cells will temporarily be able to receive packets via both old and new
base stations (BS) if this is supported by the lower protocol layers.

metric but bi-directional link to N2 that did not exist before.

This very simple example already shows some fundamental differences between
wired networks and ad-hoc wireless networks related to routing. ● Asymmetric
links: Node A receives a signal from node B. But this does not tell us anything
about the quality of the connection in reverse. B might receive nothing, have a
weak link, or even have a better link than the reverse direction. Routing
information collected for one direction is of almost no use for the other
direction. However, many routing algorithms for wired networks rely on a
symmetric scenario. ● Redundant links: Wired networks, too, have redundant
links to survive link failures. However, there is only some redundancy in wired
networks, which, additionally, are controlled by a network administrator. In ad-
Adhoc Networks: Mobility support described in relies on the existence of at least hoc networks nobody controls redundancy, so there might be many redundant
some infrastructure. Mobile IP requires, e.g., a home agent, tunnels, and default links up to the extreme of a completely meshed topology. Routing algorithms
routers. DHCP requires servers and broadcast capabilities of the medium for wired networks can handle some redundancy, but a high redundancy can
reaching all participants or relays to servers. Cellular phone networks require cause a large computational overhead for routing table updates.
base stations, infrastructure networks etc. However, there may be several ● Interference: In wired networks links exist only where a wire exists, and
situations where users of a network cannot rely on an infrastructure, it is too connections are planned by network administrators. This is not the case for
expensive, or there is none at all. In these situations mobile ad-hoc networks are wireless ad-hoc networks. Links come and go depending on transmission
the only choice. The focus is on so-called multi-hop ad-hoc networks when characteristics, one transmission might interfere with another, and nodes might
describing ad- hoc networking. The ad-hoc setting up of a connection with an overhear the transmissions of other nodes. Interference creates new problems
infrastructure is not the main issue here. These networks should be mobile and by ‘unplanned’ links between nodes: if two close-by nodes forward two
use wireless communications. Examples for the use of such mobile, wireless, transmissions, they might interfere and destroy each other. On the other hand,
multi-hop ad-hoc networks, which are only called ad-hoc networks here for interference might also help routing. A node can learn the topology with the
simplicity, are: ● Instant infrastructure: Unplanned meetings, spontaneous help of packets it has overheard. ● Dynamic topology: The greatest problem for
interpersonal communications etc. cannot rely on any infrastructure. routing arises from the highly dynamic topology. The mobile nodes might move
Infrastructures need planning and administration. It would take too long to set as shown in Figure 8.20 or medium characteristics might change. This results in
up this kind of infrastructure; therefore, ad-hoc connectivity has to be set up. frequent changes in topology, so snapshots are valid only for a very short period
● Disaster relief: Infrastructures typically break down in disaster areas. of time. In ad- hoc networks, routing tables must somehow reflect these
Hurricanes cut phone and power lines, floods destroy base stations, fires burn frequent changes in topology, and routing algorithms have to be adapted.
servers. Emergency teams can only rely on an infrastructure they can set up Routing algorithms used in wired networks would either react much too slowly
themselves. No forward planning can be done, and the set-up must be extremely or generate too many updates to reflect all changes in topology. Routing table
fast and reliable. The same applies to many military activities, which is, to be updates in fixed networks, for example, take place every 30 seconds. This
honest, one of the major driving forces behind mobile ad-hoc networking updating frequency might be too low to be useful for ad-hoc networks. Some
research. ● Remote areas: Even if infrastructures could be planned ahead, it is algorithms rely on a complete picture of the whole network. While this works in
some- times too expensive to set up an infrastructure in sparsely populated wired networks where changes are rare, it fails completely in ad-hoc networks.
areas. Depending on the communication pattern, ad-hoc networks or satellite The topology changes during the distribution of the ‘current’ snapshot of the
infrastructures can be a solution. ● Effectiveness: Services provided by existing network, rendering the snapshot useless.
infrastructures might be too expensive for certain applications. If, for example, Ad-hoc routing protocols: ● Flat ad-hoc routing protocols comprise those
only connection- oriented cellular networks exist, but an application sends only protocols that do not set up hierarchies with clusters of nodes, special nodes
a small status information every other minute, a cheaper ad-hoc packet- acting as the head of a cluster, or different routing algorithms inside or outside
oriented network might be a better solution. Registration procedures might take certain regions. All nodes in this approach play an equal role in routing. The
too long, and communication overheads might be too high with existing addressing scheme is flat. ● Hierarchical ad-hoc routing is For larger networks,
networks. Application-tailored ad-hoc networks can offer a better solution. clustering of nodes and using different routing algorithms between and within
clusters can be a scalable and efficient solution. The motivation behind this
approach is the locality property, meaning that if a cluster can be established,
nodes typically remain within a cluster, only some change clusters. If the
topology within a cluster changes, only nodes of the cluster have to be informed.
Nodes of other clusters only need to know how to reach the cluster. The
approach basically hides all the small details in clusters which are further away.
● Geographic-position-assisted ad-hoc routing: If mobile nodes know their
geographical position this can be used for routing purposes. This improves the
overall performance of routing algorithms if geo- graphical proximity also means
radio proximity (which is typically, but not always, the case – just think of
obstacles between two close-by nodes). One way to acquire position
Routing Strategies: While in wireless networks with infrastructure support a information is via the global positioning system (GPS). Mauve (2001) gives an
base station always reaches all mobile nodes, this is not always the case in an overview of several position-based ad-hoc routing protocols.
ad-hoc network. A destination node might be out of range of a source node ===End of Unit IV===
transmitting packets. Routing is needed to find a path between source and
destination and to forward the packets appropriately. In wireless networks using
an infrastructure, cells have been defined. Within a cell, the base station can
reach all mobile nodes without routing via a broadcast. In the case of ad-hoc
networks, each node must be able to forward data for other nodes. This creates