Program : B.

E
Subject Name: Mobile Computing
Subject Code: EC-8003
Semester: 8th
Downloaded from be.rgpvnotes.in

Subject Name: Mobile Computing (Elective-V) Subject Code: EC8003

Unit-IV
Mobile IP, DHCP, Ad-hoc networks: characteristics, performance issue ,routing in mobile
host, Wireless sensor network, Mobile transport layer, Indirect TCP, Snooping, Mobile TCP,
Time out freezing, Selective retransmission, transaction oriented TCP, Introduction to WAP.
___________________________________________________________________________
4.1 Mobile IP
Mobile IP is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard communications protocolthat
is designed to allow mobile device users to move from one network to another while
maintaining their permanent IP address. Defined in Request for Comments (RFC) 2002,
Mobile IP is an enhancement of the Internet Protocol (IP) that adds mechanisms for
forwarding Internet traffic to mobile devices (known as mobile nodes) when they are
connecting through other than their home network.
In traditional IP routing, IP addresses represent a topology. Routing mechanisms rely on the
assumption that each network node will always have the same point of attachment to the
Internet, and that each node's IP address identifies the network link where it is connected.
Core Internet routers look at the IP address prefix, which identifies a device's network. At
the network level, routers look at the next few bits to identify the appropriate subnet.
Finally, at the subnet level, routers look at the bits identifying a particular device. In this
routing scheme, if you disconnect a mobile device from the Internet and want to reconnect
through a different subnet, you have to configure the device with a new IP address, and the
appropriate netmask and default router. All the variations of Mobile IP assign each mobile
node a permanent home address on its home network and a care-of address that identifies
the current location of the device within a network and its subnets. Each time a user moves
the device to a different network, it acquires a new care-of address. A mobility agent on the
home network associates each permanent address with its care-of address. The mobile node
sends the home agent a binding update each time it changes its care-of address using
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). In Mobile IPv4, traffic for the mobile node is sent
to the home network but is intercepted by the home agent and forwarded
via tunnelling mechanisms to the appropriate care-of address. Foreign agents on the visited
network helps to forward datagrams. Mobile IPv6 was developed to minimize the necessity
for tunnelling and to include mechanisms that make foreign agents unnecessary.

Page no: 1 Follow us on facebook to get real-time updates from RGPV

Downloaded from be.rgpvnotes.in

4.2 DHCP(Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is a network management protocol used to
dynamically assign an Internet Protocol (IP) address to any device, or node, on a network so
they can communicate using IP. DHCP automates and centrally manages these configurations
rather than requiring network administrators to manually assign IP addresses to all network
devices. DHCP can be implemented on small local networks as well as large enterprise
networks. DHCP will assign new IP addresses in each location when devices are moved from
place to place, which means network administrators do not have to manually initially
configure each device with a valid IP address or reconfigure the device with a new IP address
if it moves to a new location on the network. Versions of DHCP are available for use in
Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).
How DHCP works
DHCP runs at the application layer of the Transmission Control Protocol/IP (TCP/IP) protocol
stack to dynamically assign IP addresses to DHCP clients and to allocate TCP/IP configuration
information to DHCP clients. This includes subnet mask information, default gateway IP
addresses and domain name system (DNS) addresses.DHCP is a client-server protocol in
which servers manage a pool of unique IP addresses, as well as information about client
configuration parameters, and assign addresses out of those address pools. DHCP-enabled
clients send a request to the DHCP server whenever they connect to a network.
Clients configured with DHCP broadcast a request to the DHCP server and request network
configuration information for the local network to which they're attached. A client typically
broadcasts a query for this information immediately after booting up. The DHCP server
responds to the client request by providing IP configuration information previously specified
by a network administrator. This includes a specific IP address as well as for the time period,
also called a lease, for which the allocation is valid. When refreshing an assignment, a DHCP
client requests the same parameters, but the DHCP server may assign a new IP address
based on policies set by administrators.

Page no: 2 Follow us on facebook to get real-time updates from RGPV

Downloaded from be.rgpvnotes.in

4.3 Mobile Adhoc Networks(MANET): Characteristics and performance issues

It is an infrastructure-less IP based network of mobile and wireless machine nodes
connected with radio. In operation, the nodes of a MANET do not have a centralized
administration mechanism. It is known for its routable network properties where each node
a t as a oute to fo wa d the t affi to othe spe ified odes i the etwo k.

Types of MANET

There are different types of MANETs including:

 InVANETs – Intelligent vehicular ad hoc networks make use of artificial intelligence to

tackle unexpected situations like vehicle collision and accidents.
 Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) – Enables effective communication with
another vehicle or helps to communicate with roadside equipment.
 Internet-Based Mobile Ad hoc Networks (iMANET) – helps to link fixed as well as
mobile nodes.

Characteristics of MANET

 In MANET, each node acts as both host and router. That is it is autonomous in


behavior.
Multi-hop radio relaying- When a source node and a destination node for a message


is out of the radio range, the MANETs are capable of multi-hop routing.
Distributed nature of operation for security, routing and host configuration. A


centralized firewall is absent here.
The nodes can join or leave the network anytime, making the network topology


dynamic in nature.


Mobile nodes are characterized by less memory, power and lightweight features.
The reliability, efficiency, stability, and capacity of wireless links are often inferior
when compared with wired links. This shows the fluctuating link bandwidth of


wireless links.
Mobile and spontaneous behaviour which demands minimum human intervention to


configure the network.
All nodes have identical features with similar responsibilities and capabilities and


hence it forms a completely symmetric environment.
High user density and large level of user mobility.

Page no: 3 Follow us on facebook to get real-time updates from RGPV

Downloaded from be.rgpvnotes.in

ANET Challenges

 A MANET environment has to overcome certain issues of limitation and inefficiency.


It includes:
The wireless link characteristics are time-varying in nature: There are transmission
impediments like fading, path loss, blockage and interference that adds to the
susceptible behaviour of wireless channels. The reliability of wireless transmission is


resisted by different factors.
Limited range of wireless transmission – The limited radio band results in reduced
data rates compared to the wireless networks. Hence optimal usage of bandwidth is


necessary by keeping low overhead as possible.
Packet losses due to errors in transmission – MANETs experience higher packet loss
due to factors such as hidden terminals that results in collisions, wireless channel
issues (high bit error rate (BER)), interference, frequent breakage in paths caused by
mobility of nodes, increased collisions due to the presence of hidden terminals and


uni-directional links.
Route changes due to mobility- The dynamic nature of network topology results in


frequent path breaks.
Frequent network partitions- The random movement of nodes often leads to the
partition of the network. This mostly affects the intermediate nodes.

The application of this wireless network is limited due to the mobile and ad hoc nature.
Similarly, the lack of a centralized operation prevents the use of firewall in MANETs. It also
faces a multitude of security threats just like wired networks. It includes spoofing, passive
eavesdropping, denial of service and many others. The attacks are usually classified on the
basis of employed techniques and the consequences.

4.3 Wireless sensor network(WSN)

A Wireless Sensor Network is one kind of wireless network includes a large number of
circulating, self-directed, minute, low powered devices named sensor nodes called motes.
These networks certainly cover a huge number of spatially distributed, little, battery-
operated, embedded devices that are networked to caringly collect, process, and transfer
data to the operators, and it has controlled the capabilities of computing & processing.
Nodes are the tiny computers, which work jointly to form the networks. It refers to a group
of spatially dispersed and dedicated sensors for monitoring and recording the physical
conditions of the environment and organizing the collected data at a central location. WSNs
measure environmental conditions like temperature, sound, pollution levels, humidity, wind,
and so on.
Page no: 4 Follow us on facebook to get real-time updates from RGPV
Downloaded from be.rgpvnotes.in

These are similar to wireless ad hoc networks in the sense that they rely on wireless
connectivity and spontaneous formation of networks so that sensor data can be transported
wirelessly. WSNs are spatially distributed autonomous sensors to monitor physical or
environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, pressure, etc. and to cooperatively
pass their data through the network to a main location. The more modern networks are bi-
directional, also enabling control of sensor activity. The development of wireless sensor
networks was motivated by military applications such as battlefield surveillance; today such
networks are used in many industrial and consumer applications, such as industrial process
monitoring and control, machine health monitoring, and so on.
The WSN is built of "nodes" – from a few to several hundreds or even thousands, where
each node is connected to one (or sometimes several) sensors. Each such sensor network
node has typically several parts: a radio transceiver with an internal antenna or connection
to an external antenna, a microcontroller, an electronic circuit for interfacing with the
sensors and an energy source, usually a battery or an embedded form of energy harvesting.
A sensor node might vary in size from that of a shoebox down to the size of a grain of dust,
although functioning "motes" of genuine microscopic dimensions have yet to be created.
The cost of sensor nodes is similarly variable, ranging from a few to hundreds of dollars,
depending on the complexity of the individual sensor nodes. Size and cost constraints on
sensor nodes result in corresponding constraints on resources such as energy, memory,
computational speed and communications bandwidth. The topology of the WSNs can vary
from a simple star network to an advanced multi-hop wireless mesh network. The
propagation technique between the hops of the network can be routing or flooding.

4.4 Mobile Transport Layer

With the advent of WLANs, a lot of research went into increasing the performance of TCP in
wireless and mobile environments, some of its outcome are I-TCP and SNOOP-TCP, Mobile-
TCP etc.
4.4.1 Indirect TCP(I-TCP)
 I-TCP segments a TCP onto fixed part and wireless part.

 The example shows a mobile host connected via a wireless link to an access point
(AP). Also access node is connected to the internet via the wired Internet.
 Standard TCP is used to connect to the AP from fixed computer. No computer over
the internet recognises any change to the TCP.
Page no: 5 Follow us on facebook to get real-time updates from RGPV
Downloaded from be.rgpvnotes.in

 The Access point acts as a proxy of mobile host and terminates the TCP connection.
 Therefore, the fixed computer now sees the AP as mobile host; on other hand the
mobile host sees AP as the fixed computer.
 In between the AP and the mobile host a special TCP adapted to wireless links is
used.
 A change is TCP is not needed as even as unchanged TCP produces the same round
trip time.
 Such segmentation methods can be used is connection between mobile node and
correspondent host when host is at the FA. So during handover, control transfers
from one FA to another FA in the nearby cell.
Acknowledgements:
 Here the correspondent node (i.e. Sender) does not notice the wireless link or
segmentation of the connection.
 The foreign Agent (FA) becomes or acts as a proxy and relays data in both directions.
 When the CN sends data, FA sends back a acknowledgement to it.
 When the mobile host receives a packet from FA, the mobile host also sends back an
acknowledgement
 This acknowledgement is a local acknowledgement. It will not be forwarded to the
CN.
 If a packet is lost in wireless transmission (i.e. no acknowledgement received) then
FA will try re-transmitting it again.
Advantages of I-TCP:
1. I-TCP does not require any changes in TCP protocol as used by the different hosts in
network.
2. Because of a strict partition between the two connections, transmission error on the
wireless link will not propagate to the wired link. Therefore, flow will always be in a
sequence.
3. The delay between the FA and Mobile host is small and if optimized properly, precise
time-outs can be used to carry out retransmission of lost packets.
4. Different solutions can be implemented ad tested between the FA and mobile host
without jeopardizing the stability of the internet.
5. With two partitions, we can use a different transport layer protocol in the second
half with the FA acting as a translator.

Disadvantages of I-TCP:
1. The end-to-end connection for which TCP has been designed will fail if the Foreign
Agent (FA) crashes.
2. The foreign agent (FA) must be a trusted entity as the TCP connections end at this
point.
3. In practical terms increased handover may latency may be much more problematic.
(During handover from old FA to new FA, some delay will occur. During this period,
some extra data will come at old FA. This data also needs to be send!!)
4.4.2 Snooping TCP
 One of the main feature of I-TCP also goes on to become its major disadvantage i.e.
segmentation of TCP.
 To overcome it but also to provide enhanced feature a new TCP was designed which
worked completely transparent and also left the TCP end-to-end connection intact.
 The new idea for making an enhancement is to buffer the data close to the mobile
host to perform fast local retransmission in case of packet loss. A good place to carry
out this enhancement is at the foreign agent (FA).

Page no: 6 Follow us on facebook to get real-time updates from RGPV

Downloaded from be.rgpvnotes.in

Method (How?)
 Here, the foreign agent instead of terminating all packet with destination mobile
host, it buffers (i.e. temporarily stores all these packets). In addition to this, it also
s oops ea h pa ket flowi g i oth the di e tio s fo eadi g a k owledge e ts.
 Buffering towards the mobile host is carried out so that a retransmission can be done
in case of missing acknowledgements.
 The FA buffers every packet until an acknowledgement is received from the mobile
host.
 If the foreign agent does not receive an acknowledgement within the stipulated time,
the packet or the acknowledgement has been lost.
 In such a situation, the FA can directly retransmit the packet without waiting for the
correspondent host.
Transparency:
 To maintain transparency i.e. the communication happens only between the
o espo de t ode CN a d the o ile host, the FA does t se d
acknowledgement to the correspondent host as in I-TCP.
 The acknowledgement is send by the Mobile host itself. The FA keeps on monitoring
it.
 When the data flows for mobile host to CN, the FA snoops and checks the sequence
of acknowledgement number. If a gap is found, FA sends signal to re-transmit.
Advantages of Snoop-TCP:
 The original TCP semantic i.e. end-to-end connection is preserved.
 The correspondent node need not be changed as all the new enhancements are
made in the FA.
 During handover form on cell to another, there is no need to transfer the previous
incoming data (as in I-TCP).
 In handover, the next foreign Agent (FA) need not use the same enhancements used
here i.e. follow Snoop-TCP method.
Disadvantages of Snoop-TCP:
 If any encryption is applied at both ends, the snooping and buffering process would
be a waste of time as no data can be read by FA.
 Does not fully isolate wireless link error from the fixed network (e.g. problems like
congestion and interference may cause a delay in retransmission).
 The Mobile host needs to be modified to handle the NACK signals (No
Acknowledgement) for reverse traffic (i.e. from MH to Sender)

4.4.3 Mobile TCP

 M-TCP (mobile TCP) has the same goals as similar to its variants i.e. I-TCP and Snoop-
TCP. It too wants to improve overall throughput, to lower the delay, to main end-to-
end semantics of TCP.
 But, it is mainly enhanced to address problems related to lengthy or frequent
disconnections.
Basic TCP methodology:
 When a node does not receive an acknowledgement back form the host, it carries
out retransmission.
Page no: 7 Follow us on facebook to get real-time updates from RGPV
Downloaded from be.rgpvnotes.in

 A TCP sender tries to retransmit data controlled by retransmission timer which

doubles up with each unsuccessful attempt. (upto a maximum of one minute)
 A sender tries to retransmit an unacknowledged packet every one minute and gives
up after 12 minutes.
 If in I-TCP, the mobile host is disconnected, then in such a situation, the FA will keep
of buffering more and more data packets.
 In case of a handover following this disconnection, we have more data to be
transmitted to new FA.
 Snoop-TCP also suffers from similar such problems.
Mobile TCP:

 The M-TCP splits up the connection into two parts:

o An unmodified TCP is used on the Standard host-Supervisory Host section
o An optimised TCP is used on the Supervisory Host- Mobile Host section.
 The Supervisory Host (SH) adorns the same role as the proxy (Foreign Agent) in I-TCP.
 The SH is responsible for exchanging data to both the Standard host and the Mobile
host.
 Here in this approach, we assume that the error bit rate is less as compared to other
wireless links.
 So if any packet is lost, the retransmission has to occur from the original sender and
not by the SH. (This also maintains the end-to-end TCP semantic)
 The SH monitors the ACKs (ACK means acknowledgement) being sent by the MH. If
for a long period ACKs have not been received, then the SH assumes that the MH has
been disconnected (maybe due to failure or moved out of range, etc...).
 If so the SH chokes the sender by setting its window size to 0.
 Be ause of this the se de goes i to pe siste t ode i.e. the se de s state will ot
change no matter how long the receiver is disconnected.
 This means that the sender will not try to retransmit the data.
 Now when the SH detects a connectivity established again with the MH (the old SH
or new SH if handover), the window of the sender is restored to original value.
Advantages:
 Maintains the TCP end-to-end semantics. (No failed packet retransmission is done by
the SH .All job handled by original sender)
 Does ot e ui e the ha ge i the se de s TCP.
 If MH dis o e ted, it does t waste time in useless transmissions and shrinks the
window size to 0.
 No need to send old buffer data to new SH in case of handover (as in I-TCP).

Disadvantages:
 M-TCP assumes low bit error which is not always true. So, any packet loss due to bit-
errors occurring, then its propagated to the sender.
 Modifications are required for the MH protocol software.

Page no: 8 Follow us on facebook to get real-time updates from RGPV

Downloaded from be.rgpvnotes.in

4.4.4 Transmission and Time-out Freezing ‰

 Mobile hosts can be disconnected for a longer time:
 No packet exchange possible, e.g., in a tunnel, disconnection due to overloaded cells or
multiplexing with higher priority traffic.
 TCP disconnects after time-out (loss of layer 2 connectivity) completely .

TCP freezing: –
 MAC layer is often able to detect interruption in advance .
 MAC can inform TCP layer of upcoming loss of connection .
 TCP stops sending, but does now not assume a congested link.
 MAC layer signals again if reconnected ‰

Advantage: – Scheme is independent of data ‰

Drawback: – TCP on mobile host has to be changed, mechanism depends on MAC layer

4.4.5 Selective retransmission

TCP acknowledgements are often cumulative:
 ACK n acknowledges correct and in-sequence receipt of packets up to n
 If single packets are missing quite often a whole packet sequence beginning at the gap has
to be retransmitted (go-back-n), thus wasting bandwidth ‰

Selective retransmission as one solution:

 RFC2018 allows for acknowledgements of single packets, not only acknowledgements of in-
sequence packet streams without gaps
 Sender can now retransmit only the missing packets ‰

Advantage: – Much higher efficiency ‰

Drawback: – More complex software in a receiver, more buffers needed at the receiver

4.4.6 Transaction Oriented TCP

TCP phases:
 Connection setup, data transmission, connection release
 Using 3-way-handshake needs 3 packets for setup and release, respectively
 Thus, even short messages need a minimum of 7 packets! ‰

Transaction-oriented TCP:
 RFC1644, T-TCP, describes a TCP version to avoid this overhead
 Connection setup, data transfer and connection release can be combined
 Compare WAP Transaction Layer Protocol
 Thus, only 2 or 3 packets are needed ‰


Advantage:
Efficiency ‰

Drawback:
 Requires changed TCP
 Mobility not longer transparent

Page no: 9 Follow us on facebook to get real-time updates from RGPV

Downloaded from be.rgpvnotes.in

4.7 Introduction to WAP

WAP is the de facto worldwide standard for providing Internet communications and
advanced telephony services on digital mobile phones, pagers, personal digital assistants,
and other wireless terminals .WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol. The dictionary
defi itio of these te s is as follows −
 Wireless − La ki g o ot e ui i g a wi e o wi es pe tai i g to adio t a s issio .
 Application − A o pute p og a o pie e of computer software that is designed to
do a specific task.
 Protocol − A set of te h i al ules a out how i fo atio should e t a s itted a d
received using computers.
WAP is the set of rules governing the transmission and reception of data by computer
applications on or via wireless devices like mobile phones. WAP allows wireless devices to
view specifically designed pages from the Internet using only plain text and very simple
black-and-white pictures.
WAP is a standardized technology for cross-platform, distributed computing very similar to
the Internet's combination of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP), except that it is optimized for:
 low-display capability
 low-memory
 Low-bandwidth devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless phones,
and pagers.
Who is behind WAP?
The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a result of joint efforts taken by companies
teaming up in an industry group called WAP Forum .On June 26, 1997, Ericsson, Motorola,
Nokia, and Unwired Planet took the initiative to start a rapid creation of a standard for
making advanced services within the wireless domain a reality. In December 1997, WAP
Forum was formally created and after the release of the WAP 1.0 specifications in April
1998, WAP Forum membership was opened to all. The WAP Forum now has over 500
members and represents over 95 percent of the global handset market. Companies such as
Nokia, Motorola and Ericsson are all members of the forum .The objective of the forum is to
create a license-free standard that brings information and telephony services to wireless
devices.
Why is WAP Important?
Until the first WAP devices emerged, the Internet was a Internet and a mobile phone was a
mobile phone. You could surf the Net, do serious research, or be entertained on the Internet
using your computer, but this was limited to your computer.ow with the appearance of WAP,
the scene is that we have the massive information, communication, and data resources of
the Internet becoming more easily available to anyone with a mobile phone or
communications device.WAP being open and secure, is well suited for many different
applications including, but not limited to stock market information, weather forecasts,
enterprise data, and games.
Despite the common misconception, developing WAP applications requires only a few
modifications to existing web applications. The current set of web application development
tools will easily support WAP development, and in the future more development tools will
be announced.
WAP Microbrowser.
To browse a standard internet site you need a web browser. Similar way to browse a WAP
enables website, you would need a micro browser. A Micro Browser is a small piece of
software that makes minimal demands on hardware, memory and CPU. It can display
information written in a restricted mark-up language called WML. Although, tiny in memory
footprint it supports many features and is even scriptable.
Today, all the WAP enabled mobile phones or PDAs are equipped with these micro browsers
so that you can take full advantage of WAP technology.

Page no: 10 Follow us on facebook to get real-time updates from RGPV

 We hope you find these notes useful.
You can get previous year question papers at
https://qp.rgpvnotes.in .

If you have any queries or you want to submit your

study notes please write us at
rgpvnotes.in@gmail.com