Wireless and Mobile Computing
By
Hannan Bin Liaqat
Department of CS& IT
University of Gujrat
Mobile Network Layer
Mobile IP
Mobile IP (IP mobility) is a protocol that is designed to
allow mobile device users to move from one network to
another while maintaining a permanent IP address.
The Mobile IP protocol allows location-independent
routing of IP datagrams on the Internet.
Motivation for Mobile IP
Consider routing mechanisms on the internet.
A host sends an IP packet with the header containing a
destination address with other fields. The destination
address not only determines the receiver of the packet,
but also the physical subnet of the receiver. For example,
the destination address 129.13.42.99 shows that the
receiver must be connected to the physical subnet with
the network prefix 129.13.42. Routers in the internet
now look at the destination addresses of incoming
packets and forward them according to internal look-up
tables.
Hence you will not receive a single packet as soon as you
leave your home network, i.e., the network your
computer is configured for.
Motivation for Mobile IP
Routing
based on IP destination address, network prefix (e.g. 129.13.42)
determines physical subnet
change of physical subnet implies change of IP address to have a
topological correct address (standard IP) or needs special entries in the
routing tables
Specific routes to end-systems?
change of all routing table entries to forward packets to the right
destination
does not scale with the number of mobile hosts and frequent changes in
the location, security problems
Changing the IP-address?
adjust the host IP address depending on the current location
almost impossible to find a mobile system, DNS updates take to long time
TCP connections break, security problems
Requirements [assumptions]
to Mobile IP
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. Mobile IP has to be integrated into existing operating
systems.
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 with all lower layers used for the
standard, non-mobile, IP. Mobile IP must not require special media or
MAC/LLC protocols, so it must use the same interfaces and
mechanisms to access the lower layers as IP does.
Mobile IP has to ensure that users can still access all the other
servers and systems in the internet. But that implies using the same
address format and routing mechanisms.
Requirements [assumptions]
to Mobile IP
Scalability and efficiency:
Introducing a new mechanism to the internet must not jeopardize
its efficiency. Enhancing IP for mobility must not generate too many
new messages flooding the whole network. Special care has to be
taken considering the lower bandwidth of wireless links.
Many mobile systems will have a wireless link to an attachment
point, so only some additional packets should be necessary between
a mobile system and a node in the network. Looking at the number
of computers connected to the internet and at the growth rates of
mobile communication, it is clear that myriad devices will
participate in the internet as mobile components.
Just think of cars, trucks, mobile phones, every seat in every plane
around the world etc. – many of them will have some IP
implementation inside and move between different networks and
require mobile IP. It is crucial for a mobile IP to be scalable over a
large number of participants in the whole internet, worldwide.
Requirements [assumptions]
to Mobile IP
Transparency:
Mobility should remain ‘invisible’ for many higher layer protocols
and applications. Higher layers should continue to work even if the
mobile computer has changed its point of attachment to the
network.
Security:
Mobility poses many security problems. The minimum requirement
is that of all the messages related to the management of Mobile IP
are authenticated. The IP layer must be sure that if it forwards a
packet to a mobile host that this host receives the packet. The IP
layer can only guarantee that the IP address of the receiver is
correct. There are no ways of preventing fake IP addresses or other
attacks. According to Internet philosophy, this is left to higher.
The Goal of a mobile IP can be summarized as:
“supporting end-system mobility while maintaining scalability,
efficiency, and compatibility in all respects with existing applications
and Internet protocols.”
Mobile IP
Entities & Terminology
Mobile Node (MN)
System (node) that can change the point of connection
to the network without changing its IP address
Correspondent node (CN): [can be sender]
At least one partner is needed for communication. In the
following the CN represents this partner for the MN. The CN can be
a fixed or mobile node.
Home network:
The home network is the subnet the MN belongs to with respect
to its IP address. No mobile IP support is needed within the home
network.
Foreign network:
The foreign network is the current subnet the MN visits and
which is not the home network.
Mobile IP
Entities & Terminology
Foreign agent (FA):
A foreign agent is a router that stores information about mobile nodes visiting
its network. Foreign agents also advertise care-of-addresses which are used by
Mobile IP.
The FA can provide several services to the MN during its visit
to the foreign network.
The FA can have the COA[care-of address], acting as tunnel
endpoint and forwarding packets to the MN. The FA can be
the default router for the MN.
FAs can also provide security services because they belong to
the foreign network as opposed to the MN which is only
visiting.
For mobile IP functioning, FAs are not necessarily needed.
Typically, an FA is implemented on a router for the subnet
the MN attaches to.
Mobile IP
Entities & Terminology
Home agent (HA):
The HA provides several services for the MN and is
located in the home network.
The tunnel for packets toward the MN starts at the
HA.
The HA maintains a location registry, i.e., it is
informed of the MN’s location by the current
COA[care-of address].
Mobile IP
Entities & Terminology
Home agent (HA) (Cntd.)
Alternatives for the implementation of an HA:
The HA can be implemented on a router that is responsible for the home
network.
If changing the router’s software is not possible, the HA could also be
implemented on an arbitrary node in the subnet.
One disadvantage of this solution is the double crossing of the router
by the packet if the MN is in a foreign network. A packet for the MN
comes in via the router; the HA sends it through the tunnel which
again crosses the router.
Mobile IP
Entities & Terminology
Care-of address (COA):
The COA defines the current location of the MN from an
IP point of view.
All IP packets sent to the MN are delivered to the COA,
not directly to the IP address of the MN.
Packet delivery toward the MN is done using a tunnel, as
explained later. To be more precise, the COA marks the
tunnel endpoint, i.e., the address where packets exit
the tunnel.
Mobile IP
Entities & Terminology
Care of Address (Cntd.)
There are two different possibilities for
the location of the COA:
Foreign agent COA: The COA could be located at the FA, i.e.,
the COA is an IP address of the FA. The FA is the tunnel end-
point and forwards packets to the MN. Many MN using the FA
can share this COA as common COA.
Co-located COA: The COA is co-located if the MN temporarily
acquired an additional IP address which acts as COA.
Example network
HA
MN
router
home network mobile end-system
Internet
(physical home network FA foreign
for the MN)
network
router
(current physical networ
CN for the MN)
end-system router
The example network in Figure shows the following
situation:
A CN is connected via a router to the internet, as
are the home network and the foreign network.
The HA is implemented on the router connecting
the home network with the internet, an FA is
implemented on the router to the foreign network.
The MN is currently in the foreign network. The
tunnel for packets toward the MN starts at the HA
and ends at the FA, for the FA has the COA in this
example.
IP Packet Delivery
Data transfer to the mobile system
HA
2
MN
home network 3 receiver
Internet
FA foreign
network
1. Sender sends to the IP address of MN,
HA intercepts packet.
1 2. HA tunnels packet to COA, here FA,
CN
by encapsulation
3. FA forwards the packet
sender to the MN.
IP Packet Delivery
Data transfer from the mobile system
HA
1 MN
home network sender
Internet
FA foreign
network
1. Sender sends to the IP address
of the receiver as usual,
CN
FA works as default router
receiver
Overview COA
router
home router MN
FA
network HA
foreign
Internet network
CN router
3.
router
home router MN
2. FA
network HA
4.
foreign
Internet network
1.
CN router
Network Integration
Three Mobile IP mechanisms
1. Discovering the care-of address
2. Registering the care-of address
3. Tunneling to the care-of address
Network Integration
Agent Advertisement
HA and FA periodically send advertisement messages
into their physical subnets
MN listens to these messages and detects, if it is in
the home or a foreign network (standard case for
home network)
MN reads a COA from the FA advertisement messages
Registration
MN signals COA to the HA via the FA, HA
acknowledges via FA to MN
these actions have to be secured by authentication
Agent advertisement
0 7 8 15 16 23 24 31
type code checksum
#addresses addr. size lifetime
router address 1
preference level 1
router address 2
preference level 2
...
type = 16
length = 6 + 4 * #COAs type = 16 length sequence number
registration lifetime R B H F MG r T reserved
R: registration required COA 1
B: busy, no more registrations COA 2
H: home agent ...
F: foreign agent
M: minimal encapsulation
G: GRE encapsulation
r: =0, ignored (former Van Jacobson compression)
T: FA supports reverse tunneling
reserved: =0, ignored
Registration
MNregis FA HA MNregis HA
t
requ ration t
requ ration
est est
regi
st
requ ration
est
stra tion
regi
y
repl
st ration
regi
y t
repl
i st ration
reg
y
repl
t
Mobile IP registration request
0 7 8 15 16 23 24 31
type = 1 S B D MG r T x lifetime
home address
home agent
COA
identification
extensions . . .
S: simultaneous bindings
B: broadcast datagrams
D: decapsulation by MN
M mininal encapsulation
G: GRE encapsulation
r: =0, ignored
T: reverse tunneling requested
x: =0, ignored
Mobile IP registration reply
0 7 8 15 16 31
type = 3 code lifetime
home address
home agent
identification
Example codes: extensions . . .
registration successful
0 registration accepted
1 registration accepted, but simultaneous mobility bindings unsupported
registration denied by FA
65 administratively prohibited
66 insufficient resources
67 mobile node failed authentication
68 home agent failed authentication
69 requested Lifetime too long
registration denied by HA
129 administratively prohibited
131 mobile node failed authentication
133 registration Identification mismatch
135 too many simultaneous mobility bindings
Reverse tunneling
HA
2
MN
home network 1 sender
Internet
FA foreign
network
1. MN sends to FA
3 2. FA tunnels packets to HA
CN by encapsulation
3. HA forwards the packet to the
receiver (standard case)
receiver
Why Reverse Tunneling is
needed?
Firewalls
Firewalls often filter packets coming from outside
containing a source address from computers of the internal
network.
This avoids other computers that could use internal
addresses and claim to be internal computers.
However, this also implies that an MN cannot send a
packet to a computer residing in its home network.
This problem can be solved through reverse tunneling.
Why Reverse Tunneling is
needed?
Multicast:
reverse tunnels are needed for the MN to participate in a
multicast 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 to its home network without a
reverse tunnel.
Mobile IP and IPv6
Mobile IP was developed for IPv4, but IPv6 simplifies the protocols
COA can be assigned via auto-configuration. Every node has address
autoconfiguration. i.e.The mechanisms for acquiring a COA are
already built in.
addresses are always co-located
Every IPv6 node can send binding updates to another node, so the
MN can send its current COA directly to the CN and HA. (directly to
CN not via HA)
„soft“ hand-over, i.e. without packet loss, between two subnets is
supported
MN sends the new COA to its old router
the old router encapsulates all incoming packets for the MN and forwards them to
the new COA
Mobile ad hoc networks
Standard Mobile IP needs an infrastructure
Home Agent/Foreign Agent in the fixed network
DNS, routing etc. are not designed for mobility
Characteristics of Mobile Ad hoc Network
No infrastructure at all.
no default router available
every node should be able to forward
Every node should work as router
A B C
Manet: Mobile Ad-hoc Networking
Mobile
Router
Manet
Mobile
Devices
Mobile IP
Fixed
Network
Router End system
Routing in MANET
In wireless networks with infrastructure support a base
station always reaches all mobile nodes.
While in case of ad-hoc network. A destination node might
be out of range of a source node 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.
In the case of ad-hoc networks, each node must be able to
forward data for other nodes.
Routing examples for an ad-
hoc network
N1 N1
N2 N3
N3 N2
N4 N4 N5
N5
time = t1 good link time = t2
weak link
Some fundamental differences between wired networks
and ad-hoc wireless networks related to routing
Asymmetric links
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
Few redundant links are required to survive link failure
which are controlled by network administrator.
Where as more links are needed in MANET and there is
no network administrator for controlling them.
Dynamic topology
Traditional routing algorithms
Distance Vector Routing
each node sends a routing advertisement periodically.
These advertisements contain a neighbour table with a list
of link qualities like who can be reached at what distance
to each neighbour.
Each node updates the local routing table according to the
distance vector algorithm based on these advertisements.
Selection of the shortest path if several paths available.
Problems of traditional
routing algorithms
Dynamic of the topology
frequent changes of connections, connection quality,
participants .
Limited performance of mobile systems
periodic updates of routing tables need energy without
contributing to the transmission of user data.
limited bandwidth of the system is reduced even more due
to the exchange of routing information
links can be asymmetric, i.e., they can have a direction
dependent transmission quality
Problem
protocols have been designed for fixed networks with
infrequent changes and typically assume symmetric links
Dynamic source routing
Split routing into discovering a path and maintaining a path
Discover a path
only if a path for sending packets to a certain destination is needed
and no path is currently available
Maintaining a path
only while the path is in use one has to make sure that it can be
used continuously
No periodic updates needed!
Dynamic source routing Cntd.
Path discovery
broadcast a packet with destination address and unique ID
if a station receives a broadcast packet
if the station is the receiver (i.e., has the correct destination address) then return
the packet to the sender (path was collected in the packet)
if the packet has already been received earlier (identified via ID) then discard the
packet
otherwise, append own address and broadcast packet
sender receives packet with the current path (address list)
Dynamic source routing Cntd.
Optimizations
• To avoid too many broadcasts, each route request could
contain a counter. Every node rebroadcasting the request
increments the counter by one. Knowing the maximum
network diameter (take the number of nodes if nothing else
is known), nodes can drop a request if the counter reaches
this number.
• A node can cache path fragments from recent requests.
These fragments can now be used to answer other route
requests much faster.
Interference-based routing
N1
N2
R1
S1 N3
N4
N5 N6 R2
S2
N8 N9
N7
neighbors
(i.e. within radio range)
Clustering of ad-hoc networks
Internet
cluster
super cluster
