UNIT-3

Need for Mobile IP

The IP addresses are designed to work with stationary hosts because part of the address
defines the network to which the host is attached. A host cannot change its IP address
without terminating on-going sessions and restarting them after it acquires a new address.
Other link layer mobility solutions exist but are not sufficient enough for the global Internet.
Mobility is the ability of a node to change its point-of-attachment while maintaining all
existing communications and using the same IP address.
Nomadicity allows a node to move but it must terminate all existing communications
and then can initiate new connections with a new address.

Mobile IP is a network layer solution for homogenous and heterogeneous mobility

on the global Internet which is scalable, robust, secure and which allows nodes to
maintain all ongoing communications while moving.

Design Goals: Mobile IP was developed as a means for transparently dealing with problems
of mobile users. Mobile IP was designed to make the size and the frequency of required
routing updates as small as possible. It was designed to make it simple to implement mobile
node software. It was designed to avoid solutions that require mobile nodes to use multiple
addresses.

Requirements: There are several requirements for Mobile IP to make it as a standard. Some
of them are:
1. Compatibility: The whole architecture of internet is very huge and a new standard
cannot introduce changes to the applications or network protocols already in use.
Mobile IP is to be integrated into the existing operating systems. Also, for routers
also it may be possible to enhance its capabilities to support mobility instead of
changing the routers which is highly impossible. 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. Finally, end-systems enhanced with a mobile IP
implementation should still be able to communicate with fixed systems without
mobile IP.
2. Transparency: Mobility remains invisible for many higher layer protocols and
applications. Higher layers continue to work even if the mobile computer has
Mobile IP UNIT- II
DHCP
changed its point of attachment to the network and even notice a lower bandwidth
and some interruption in the service. As many of today’s applications have not been
designed to use in mobile environments, the effects of mobility will be higher delay
and lower bandwidth.
3. Scalability and efficiency: The efficiency of the network should not be affected even
if a new mechanism is introduced into the internet. Enhancing IP for mobility must
not generate many new messages flooding the whole network. Special care is
necessary to be taken considering the lower bandwidth of wireless links. Many
mobile systems have a wireless link to an attachment point. Therefore, only some
additional packets must be necessary between a mobile system and a node in the
network. It is indispensable for a mobile IP to be scalable over a large number of
participants in the whole internet, throughout the world.
4. Security: Mobility possesses many security problems. A minimum requirement is the
authentication of all messages related to the management of mobile IP. It must be
sure for the IP layer if it forwards a packet to a mobile host that this host really is the
receiver of the packet. The IP layer can only guarantee that the IP address of the
receiver is correct. There is no way to prevent faked IP addresses and other attacks.

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’.

Entities and terminology

The following defines several entities and terms needed to understand mobile IP as defined
in RFC 3344.
 Mobile Node (MN): A mobile node is an end-system or router that can change its point
of attachment to the internet using mobile IP. The MN keeps its IP address and can
continuously communicate with any other system in the internet as long as link-layer
connectivity is given. Examples are laptop, mobile phone, router on an aircraft etc.
 Correspondent node (CN): 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 UNIT- II
DHCP

 Foreign agent (FA): The FA can provide several services to the MN during its visit to the
foreign network. The FA can have the COA, 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. FA is implemented on a router for the subnet the MN attaches to.
 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, i.e., the
COA marks the tunnel endpoint, i.e., the address where packets exit the tunnel. 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. This address is now topologically correct,
and the tunnel endpoint is at the MN. Co-located addresses can be acquired using
services such as DHCP.

 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.
Three alternatives for the implementation of an HA exist.
1. The HA can be implemented on a router that is responsible for the home network.
This is obviously the best position, because without optimizations to mobile IP, all
packets for the MN have to go through the router anyway.
2. 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
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Mobile IP UNIT- II
DHCP
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.
3. Finally, a home network is not necessary at all. The HA could be again on the ‘router’
but this time only acting as a manager for MNs belonging to a virtual home network.
All MNs are always in a foreign network with this solution.

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 the above example.

IP packet delivery
Consider the above example in which a correspondent node (CN) wants to send an IP packet
to the MN. One of the requirements of mobile IP was to support hiding the mobility of the
MN. CN does not need to know anything about the MN’s current location and sends the
packet as usual to the IP address of MN as shown below.

CN sends an IP packet with MN as a destination address and CN as a source address.

The internet, not having information on the current location of MN, routes the packet to the
router responsible for the home network of MN. This is done using the standard routing
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Mobile IP UNIT- II
DHCP
mechanisms of the internet. The HA now intercepts the packet, knowing that MN is
currently not in its home network. The packet is not forwarded into the subnet as usual, but
encapsulated and tunnelled to the COA. A new header is put in front of the old IP header
showing the COA as new destination and HA as source of the encapsulated packet (step 2).
The foreign agent now decapsulates the packet, i.e., removes the additional header, and
forwards the original packet with CN as source and MN as destination to the MN (step 3).
Again, for the MN mobility is not visible. It receives the packet with the same sender and
receiver address as it would have done in the home network.

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Mobile IP UNIT- II
DHCP
Sending packets from the mobile node (MN) to the CN is comparatively simple. The
MN sends the packet as usual with its own fixed IP address as source and CN’s address as
destination (step 4). The router with the FA acts as default router and forwards the packet in
the same way as it would do for any other node in the foreign network. As long as CN is a
fixed node the remainder is in the fixed internet as usual. If CN were also a mobile node
residing in a foreign network, the same mechanisms as described in steps 1 through 3 would
apply now in the other direction.

Working of Mobile IP:- Mobile IP has two addresses for a mobile host: one home address and one
care- of address. The home address is permanent; the care-of address changes as the mobile host
moves from one network to another. To make the change of address transparent to the rest of
the Internet requires a home agent and a foreign agent. The specific function of an agent is
performed in the application layer. When the mobile host and the foreign agent are the same,
the care-of address is called a co-located care-of address. To communicate with a remote host, a
mobile host goes through three phases: agent discovery, registration, and data transfer.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

(DHCP)
DHCP is an automatic configuration protocol used on IP networks. DHCP allows a
computer to join an IP-based network without having a pre-configured IP address. DHCP is a
protocol that assigns unique IP addresses to devices, then releases and renews these
addresses as devices leave and re-join the network. If a new computer is connected to a
network, DHCP can provide it with all the necessary information for full system integration
into the network, e.g., addresses of a DNS server and the default router, the subnet mask,
the domain name, and an IP address. Providing an IP address makes DHCP very attractive for
mobile IP as a source of care-of-addresses.
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Mobile IP UNIT- II
DHCP
DHCP is based on a client/server model as shown below. DHCP clients send a request
to a server (DHCPDISCOVER in the example) to which the server responds. A client sends
requests using MAC broadcasts to reach all devices in the LAN. A DHCP relay might be
needed to forward requests across inter-working units to a DHCPserver.

Consider the scenario where there is one client and two servers are present. A typical
initialization of a DHCP client is shown below:

the client broadcasts a DHCPDISCOVER into the subnet. There might be a relay to forward
this broadcast. In the case shown, two servers receive this broadcast and determine the
configuration they can offer to the client. Servers reply to the client’s request with
DHCPOFFER and offer a list of configuration parameters. The client can now choose one of
the configurations offered. The client in turn replies to the servers, accepting one of the
configurations and rejecting the others using DHCPREQUEST. If a server receives a
DHCPREQUEST with a rejection, it can free the reserved configuration for other possible
Mobile IP UNIT- II
DHCP
clients. The server with the configuration accepted by the client now confirms the configuration with
DHCPACK. This completes the initialization phase. If a client leaves a subnet, it should release the
configuration received by the server using DHCPRELEASE. Now the server can free the context stored
for the client and offer the configuration again. The configuration a client gets from a server is only
leased for a certain amount of time, it has to be reconfirmed from time to time. Otherwise the server
will free the configuration. This timeout of configuration helps in the case of crashed nodes or nodes
moved away without releasing the context.

DHCP is a good candidate for supporting the acquisition of care-of addresses for mobile nodes.
The same holds for all other parameters needed, such as addresses of the default router, DNS servers,
the timeserver etc. A DHCP server should be located in the subnet of the access point of the mobile
node, or at least a DHCP relay should provide forwarding of the messages. RFC 3118 specifies
authentication for DHCP messages so as to provide protection from malicious DHCP servers. Without
authentication, a DHCP server cannot trust the mobile node and vice versa…
Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs): Overview, Properties of a MANET,
spectrum of MANET, applications, routing and various routing algorithms,
security

in
MANET’s.

Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANETs) are wireless networks which are characterized by dynamic
topologies and no fixed infrastructure. Each node in a MANET is a computer that may be
required to act as both a host and a router and, as much, may be required to forward packets
between nodes which cannot directly communicate with one another. Each MANET node has
much smaller frequency spectrum requirements that that for a node in a fixed infrastructure
network. A MANET is an autonomous collection of mobile users that communicate over
relatively bandwidth constrained wireless links. Since the nodes are mobile, the network
topology may change rapidly and unpredictably over time. The network is decentralized, where
all network activity including discovering the topology and delivering messages must be
executed by the nodes themselves, i.e., routing functionality will be incorporated into mobile
nodes.

A mobile ad hoc network is a collection of wireless nodes that can dynamically be set up
anywhere and anytime without using any pre-existing fixed networkinfrastructure.
MANET- Characteristics
 Dynamic network topology
 Bandwidth constraints and variable link capacity
 Energy constrained nodes
 Multi-hop communications
 Limited security
 Autonomous terminal
 Distributed operation
 Light-weight terminals
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Mobile Computing Unit-5
Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs)

Need for Ad Hoc Networks

 Setting up of fixed access points and backbone infrastructure is not always
viable
– Infrastructure may not be present in a disaster area or war zone
– Infrastructure may not be practical for short-range radios; Bluetooth (range ~ 10m)
 Ad hoc networks:
– Do not need backbone infrastructure support
– Are easy to deploy
– Useful when infrastructure is absent, destroyed or impractical

Properties of MANETs
 MANET enables fast establishment of networks. When anew network is to be established,
the only requirement is to provide a new set of nodes with limited wireless communication
range. A node has limited capability, that is, it can connect only to the nodes which are
nearby. Hence it consumes limited power.
 A MANET node has the ability to discover a neighboring node and service. Using a service
discovery protocol, a node discovers the service of a nearby node and communicates to a
remote node in the MANET.
 MANET nodes have peer-to-peer connectivity among themselves.
 MANET nodes have independent computational, switching (or routing), and communication
capabilities.
 The wireless connectivity range in MANETs includes only nearest node connectivity.
 The failure of an intermediate node results in greater latency in communicating with the
remote server.
 Limited bandwidth available between two intermediate nodes becomes a constraint for the
MANET. The node may have limited power and thus computations need to be energy-
efficient.
 There is no access-point requirement in MANET. Only selected access points are provided
for connection to other networks or other MANETs.
 MANET nodes can be the iPods, Palm handheld computers, Smartphones, PCs, smart labels,
smart sensors, and automobile-embedded systems\
 MANET nodes can use different protocols, for example, IrDA, Bluetooth, ZigBee, 802.11,
GSM, and TCP/IP.MANET node performs data caching, saving, andaggregation.
 MANET mobile device nodes interact seamlessly when they move with the nearby wireless
nodes, sensor nodes, and embedded devices in automobiles so that the seamless connectivity
is maintained between the devices.

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Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs)

MANET challenges
To design a good wireless ad hoc network, various challenges have to be taken into account:
 Dynamic Topology: Nodes are free to move in an arbitrary fashion resulting in the topology
changing arbitrarily. This characteristic demands dynamic configuration of the network.
 Limited security: Wireless networks are vulnerable to attack. Mobile ad hoc networks are
more vulnerable as by design any node should be able to join or leave the network at any
time. This requires flexibility and higher openness.
 Limited Bandwidth: Wireless networks in general are bandwidth limited. In an ad hoc
network, it is all the more so because there is no backbone to handle or multiplex higher
bandwidth
 Routing: Routing in a mobile ad hoc network is complex. This depends on many factors,
including finding the routing path, selection of routers, topology, protocol etc.

Applications of MANETS
The set of applications for MANETs is diverse, ranging from small, static networks that are
constrained by power sources, to large-scale, mobile, highly dynamic networks. The design of
network protocols for these networks is a complex issue. Regardless of the application, MANETs
need efficient distributed algorithms to determine network organization, link scheduling, and
routing. Some of the main application areas of MANET’s are:

 Military battlefield– soldiers, tanks, planes. Ad- hoc networking would allow the military
to take advantage of commonplace network technology to maintain an information
network between the soldiers, vehicles, and military information headquarters.
Mobile Computing Unit-5
Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs)

 Sensor networks – to monitor environmental conditions over a large area

 Local level – Ad hoc networks can autonomously link an instant and temporary
multimedia network using notebook computers or palmtop computers to spread and
share information among participants at e.g. conference or classroom. Another
appropriate local level application might be in home networks where devices can
communicate directly to exchange information.
 Personal Area Network (PAN) – pervasive computing i.e. to provide flexible
connectivity between personal electronic devices or home appliances. Short-range
MANET can simplify the intercommunication between various mobile devices (such as a
PDA, a laptop, and a cellular phone). Tedious wired cables are replaced with wireless
connections. Such an ad hoc network can also extend the access to the Internet or other
networks by mechanisms e.g. Wireless LAN (WLAN), GPRS, and UMTS.
 Vehicular Ad hoc Networks – intelligent transportation i.e. to enable real time vehicle
monitoring and adaptive traffic control
 Civilian environments – taxi cab network, meeting rooms, sports stadiums, boats, small
aircraft
 Emergency operations – search and rescue, policing and fire fighting and to provide
connectivity between distant devices where the network infrastructure is unavailable.
Ad hoc can be used in emergency/rescue operations for disaster relief efforts, e.g. in
fire, flood, or earthquake. Emergency rescue operations must take place where non-
existing or damaged communications infrastructure and rapid deployment of a
communication network is needed. Information is relayed from one rescue team
member to another over a small hand held.

Routing in MANET’s

Routing in Mobile Ad hoc networks is an important issue as these networks do not have
fixed infrastructure and routing requires distributed and cooperative actions from all nodes in
the network. MANET’s provide point to point routing similar to Internet routing. The major
difference between routing in MANET and regular internet is the route discovery mechanism.
Internet routing protocols such as RIP or OSPF have relatively long converge times, which is
acceptable for a wired network that has infrequent topology changes. However, a MANET has
a rapid topology changes due to node mobility making the traditional internet routing protocols
inappropriate. MANET-specific routing protocols have been proposed, that handle topology
changes well, but they have large control overhead and are not scalable for large networks.
Another major difference in the routing is the network address. In internet routing, the network
address (IP address) is hierarchical containing a network ID and a computer ID on that network.
In contrast, for most MANET’s the network address is simply an ID of the node in the network
and is not hierarchical. The routing protocol must use the entire address to decide the next
hop.
Mobile Computing Unit-5
Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs)

Some of the fundamental differences between wired networks & ad-hoc

networksare:
 Asymmetric links: - Routing information collected for one direction is of no use for the other
direction. Many routing algorithms for wired networks rely on a symmetric scenario.
 Redundant links: - In wired networks, some redundancy is present to survive link failures
and this redundancy is controlled by a network administrator. In ad-hoc networks, nobody
controls redundancy resulting in many redundant links up to the extreme of a complete
meshed topology.
 Interference: - In wired networks, links exist only where a wire exists, and connections are
planned by network administrators. But, in ad-hoc networks links come and go depending
on transmission characteristics, one transmission might interfere with another and nodes
might overhear the transmission of other nodes.
 Dynamic topology: - The mobile nodes might move in an arbitrary manner or medium
characteristics might change. This result in frequent changes in topology, so snapshots are
valid only for a very short period of time. So, in ad-hoc networks, routing tables must
somehow reflect these frequent changes in topology and routing algorithms have to be
adopted.

Summary of the difficulties faced for routing in ad-hoc networks

 Traditional routing algorithms known from wired networks will not work efficiently or
fail completely. These algorithms have not been designed with a highly dynamic
topology, asymmetric links, or interference in mind.
 Routing in wireless ad-hoc networks cannot rely on layer three knowledge alone.
Information from lower layers concerning connectivity or interference can help routing
algorithms to find a good path.
 Centralized approaches will not really work, because it takes too long to collect the
current status and disseminate it again. Within this time the topology has already
changed.
 Many nodes need routing capabilities. While there might be some without, at least one
router has to be within the range of each node. Algorithms have to consider the limited
battery power of these nodes.
 The notion of a connection with certain characteristics cannot work properly. Ad-hoc
networks will be connectionless, because it is not possible to maintain a connection in a
fast changing environment and to forward data following this connection. Nodes have
to make local decisions for forwarding and send packets roughly toward the final
destination.
 A last alternative to forward a packet across an unknown topology is flooding. This
approach always works if the load is low, but it is very inefficient. A hop counter is
needed in each packet to avoid looping, and the diameter of the ad-hoc network.
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Mobile Computing

Unit-5
Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs)

Types of MANET Routing Algorithms:

1. Based on the information used to build routing tables :
• Shortest distance algorithms: algorithms that use distance information to
build routing tables.
• Link state algorithms: algorithms that use connectivity information to build
a topology graph that is used to build routing tables.

2. Based on when routing tables are built:

• Proactive algorithms: maintain routes to destinations even if they are not
needed. Some of the examples are Destination Sequenced Distance Vector
(DSDV), Wireless Routing Algorithm (WRP), Global State Routing (GSR),
Source-tree Adaptive Routing (STAR), Cluster-Head Gateway Switch
Routing (CGSR), Topology Broadcast Reverse Path Forwarding (TBRPF),
Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) etc.
 Always maintain routes:- Little or no delay for route determination
 Consume bandwidth to keep routes up-to-date
 Maintain routes which may never be used
 Advantages: low route latency, State information, QoS
guarantee related to connection set-up or other real-time
requirements
 Disadvantages: high overhead (periodic updates) and route
repair depends on update frequency

• Reactive algorithms: maintain routes to destinations only when they are

needed. Examples are Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), Ad hoc-On demand
distance Vector (AODV), Temporally ordered Routing Algorithm (TORA),
Associativity-Based Routing (ABR) etc
 only obtain route information when needed
 Advantages: no overhead from periodic update, scalability as
long as there is only light traffic and low mobility.
 Disadvantages: high route latency, route caching can reduce latency

• Hybrid algorithms: maintain routes to nearby nodes even if they are not
needed and maintain routes to far away nodes only when needed.
Example is Zone Routing Protocol (ZRP).
Which approach achieves a better trade-off depends on the traffic and mobilitypatterns.