Mobile Communications

Chapter 8: Network Protocols/Mobile IP

• Motivation
• Data transfer , Encapsulation
• Security, IPv6, Problems
• DHCP
• Ad-hoc networks, Routing protocols

Prof. Jó Ueyama

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.1

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
too long time
• TCP connections break, security problems

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.2

Requirements for Mobile IPv4 (RFC 3344,
was: 3220, was: 2002 , updated by: 4721)

• Transparency
• mobile end-systems keep their IP address
• continuation of communication after interruption of link
possible
• point of connection to the fixed network can be changed
• Compatibility
• support of the same layer 2 protocols as IP
• no changes to current end-systems and routers required
• mobile end-systems can communicate with fixed systems
• Security
• authentication of all registration messages
• Efficiency and scalability
• only little additional messages to the mobile system required
(connection typically via a low bandwidth radio link)
• world-wide support of a large number of mobile systems in
the whole Internet
courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.3
Terminology
• Mobile Node (MN)
• system (node) that can change the point of connection
to the network without changing its IP address
• Home Agent (HA)
• system in the home network of the MN, typically a router
• registers the location of the MN, tunnels IP datagrams to the COA
• Foreign Agent (FA)
• system in the current foreign network of the MN, typically a router
• forwards the tunneled datagrams to the MN, typically also the
default router for the MN
• Care-of Address (COA)
• address of the current tunnel end-point for the MN (at FA or MN)
• Co-located COA
• actual location of the MN from an IP point of view
• can be chosen, e.g., via DHCP
• Correspondent Node (CN)
• communication partner
courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.4
Example network

HA
MN

router

home network mobile end-system

Internet
(physical home network
for the MN) FA foreign
network
router
(current physical network
for the MN)
CN

end-system router

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Data transfer to the mobile system

HA
2
MN

home network receiver

3
Internet

FA foreign
network

1. Sender sends to the IP address of MN,

HA intercepts packet (proxy ARP)
1 2. HA tunnels packet to COA, here FA,
CN
by encapsulation
3. FA forwards the packet
sender to the MN

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.6

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

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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

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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 (always limited lifetime!)
• MN signals COA to the HA via the FA, HA acknowledges via FA to
MN
• these actions have to be secured by authentication
• Advertisement
• HA advertises the IP address of the MN (as for fixed systems), i.e.
standard routing information
• routers adjust their entries, these are stable for a longer time (HA
responsible for a MN over a longer period of time)
• packets to the MN are sent to the HA,
• independent of changes in COA/FA

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.9

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
R: registration required registration lifetime R B H F M G r T reserved
B: busy, no more registrations COA 1
H: home agent COA 2
F: foreign agent
...
M: minimal encapsulation
G: GRE encapsulation
r: =0, ignored (former Van Jacobson compression)
T: FA supports reverse tunneling
reserved: =0, ignored

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.10

Agent Advertisement
• Agent Advertisement Packet Frame
– Type: 16 indicates agent advertisement
– Length: number in bytes excluding Type and Length
fields; 6 + 4 * # COAs
– Sequence number: count of agent advertisement
messages since agent was initialized
– R Bit, indicates that the registration is required even if
the mobile node has already registered with this
network; or already has a CO-COA
– H Bit: This agent offers services as a home agent on
this network
– F Bit: This agent offers services as a foreign agent on
this network

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Registration via FA or directly with the HA

MN re FA HA MN re HA
gist gist
requ ration requ ration
e st es t
regi
s
requ tration
est
n
i st ratio
reg
y
n repl
i st ratio
reg
y t
repl
n
i st ratio
reg
y
repl

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Mobile IP registration request

0 7 8 15 16 23 24 31
type = 1 S B DMG r T x lifetime
home address
home agent
COA
identification

Extensions (e.g. authentication) . . .

S: simultaneous bindings (requests that multiple copies of packet are sent to each registered COA)
B: broadcast datagrams
D: decapsulation by MN (If Co-located COA is adopted)
M mininal encapsulation
G: GRE encapsulation
r: =0, ignored
T: reverse tunneling requested
x: =0, ignored
Type 1 → registration request

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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
Type 3 → response from home agent

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Encapsulation

original IP header original data

new IP header new data

outer header inner header original data

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Encapsulation I
• Encapsulation of one packet into another as payload
• e.g. IPv6 in IPv4 (6Bone), Multicast in Unicast (Mbone)
• here: e.g. IP-in-IP-encapsulation, minimal encapsulation or
GRE (Generic Record Encapsulation)
• IP-in-IP-encapsulation (mandatory, RFC 2003)
• tunnel between HA and COA
ver. IHL DS (TOS) length
IP identification flags fragment offset
TTL IP-in-IP IP checksum
IP address of HA
Care-of address COA
ver. IHL DS (TOS) length
IP identification flags fragment offset
TTL lay. 4 prot. IP checksum
IP address of CN
IP address of MN
TCP/UDP/ ... payload

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Encapsulation II
• Minimal encapsulation (optional)
• avoids repetition of identical fields
• e.g. TTL, IHL, version, DS (RFC 2474, old: TOS)
• only applicable for non fragmented packets, no space left for
fragment identification
ver. IHL DS (TOS) length
IP identification flags fragment offset
TTL min. encap. IP checksum
IP address of HA
care-of address COA
lay. 4 protoc. S reserved IP checksum
IP address of MN
original sender IP address (if S=1)
TCP/UDP/ ... payload

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Generic Routing Encapsulation
original
original data
header

GRE original
outer header original data
header header

RFC 1701 new header new data

ver. IHL DS (TOS) length

IP identification flags fragment offset
TTL GRE IP checksum
IP address of HA RFC 2784 (updated by 2890)
Care-of address COA
C R K S s rec. rsv. ver. protocol C reserved0 ver. protocol
checksum (optional) offset (optional) checksum (optional) reserved1 (=0)
key (optional)
sequence number (optional)
routing (optional)
ver. IHL DS (TOS) length
IP identification flags fragment offset
TTL lay. 4 prot. IP checksum
IP address of CN
IP address of MN

TCP/UDP/ ... payload

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Generic Routing Encapsulation
• C: is checksum available?
• R: offset and routing available and valid information?
• K: key field present for authentication?
• S: sequence number available? If so, strict sequence must
be obeyed to restore packet order
• rec.: it determines the number of recursive
encapsulations; default is 0 (only one level)
• rsv.: reserved; set to 0
• Protocol: Ethernet? Mobile IP?

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.19

Optimization of packet forwarding
• Problem: Triangular Routing
• sender sends all packets via HA to MN
• higher latency and network load
• “Solutions”
• sender learns the current location of MN
• direct tunneling to this location
• HA informs a sender about the location of MN
• big security problems!
• Change of FA
• packets on-the-fly during the change can be lost
• new FA informs old FA to avoid packet loss, old FA now
forwards remaining packets to new FA
• this information also enables the old FA to release resources
for the MN

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Change of foreign agent

CN HA FAold FAnew MN

Data Data Data

Update
ACK

Data Data
MN changes
location
Update Registration
ACK
Data
Data Data
Warning
Request
Update
ACK
Data
Data
t

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Reverse tunneling (RFC 3024, was:
2344)

HA
2
MN

home network sender

1
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

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Mobile IP with reverse tunneling
• Router accepts often only “topological correct“ addresses
(firewall!)
• a packet from the MN encapsulated by the FA is now topological
correct
• furthermore multicast and TTL problems solved (TTL in the home
network correct, but MN is too far away from the receiver)
• Reverse tunneling does not solve
• problems with firewalls, the reverse tunnel can be abused to
circumvent security mechanisms (tunnel hijacking)
• optimization of data paths, i.e. packets will be forwarded through
the tunnel via the HA to a sender (double triangular routing)
• The standard is backwards compatible
• the extensions can be implemented easily and cooperate with
current implementations without these extensions
• Agent Advertisements can carry requests for reverse tunneling

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 Mobile IP and IPv6 (RFC 3775)
• Mobile IP was developed for IPv4, but IPv6 simplifies the
protocols
• security is integrated and not an add-on, authentication of
registration is included
• COA can be assigned via auto-configuration (DHCPv6 is one
candidate), every node has address auto-configuration
• no need for a separate FA, all routers perform router
advertisement which can be used instead of the special agent
advertisement; addresses are always co-located
• MN can signal a sender directly the COA, sending via HA not
needed in this case (automatic path optimization–COA to MN)
• „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
• authentication is always granted

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Problems with mobile IP
• Security
• authentication with FA problematic, for the FA typically
belongs to another organization
• no protocol for key management and key distribution has
been standardized in the Internet
• Firewalls
• typically mobile IP cannot be used together with firewalls,
special set-ups are needed (such as reverse tunneling)
• QoS
• many new reservations in case of RSVP
• tunneling makes it hard to give a flow of packets a special
treatment needed for the QoS
• Security, firewalls, QoS etc. are topics of research and
discussions

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DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol
• Application
• simplification of installation and maintenance of networked
computers
• supplies systems with all necessary information, such as IP
address, DNS server address, domain name, subnet mask,
default router etc.
• enables automatic integration of systems into an Intranet or
the Internet, can be used to acquire a COA for Mobile IP
• Client/Server-Model
• the client sends via a MAC broadcast a request to the DHCP
DHCPDISCOVER
server (might be via a DHCP relay)
DHCPDISCOVER
server client

client relay

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DHCP - protocol mechanisms

server client server

(not selected) initialization (selected)
DHCPDISCOVER DHCPDISCOVER
determine the determine the
configuration configuration
DHCPOFFER DHCPOFFER
collection of replies
time

selection of configuration
DHCPREQUEST DHCPREQUEST
(reject) (options) confirmation of
configuration
DHCPACK
initialization completed

release
DHCPRELEASE delete context

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DHCP characteristics
• Server
• several servers can be configured for DHCP, coordination not
yet standardized (i.e., manual configuration)
• Renewal of configurations
• IP addresses have to be requested periodically, simplified
protocol
• Options
• available for routers, subnet mask, NTP (network time
protocol) timeserver, SLP (service location protocol)
directory, DNS (domain name system)

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.28

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
• Sometimes there is no infrastructure!
• remote areas, ad-hoc meetings, disaster areas
• cost can also be an argument against an infrastructure!
• Main topic: routing
• no default router available
• every node should be able to forward

A B C
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Solution: Wireless ad-hoc networks
• Network without infrastructure
• Use components of participants for networking

• Examples
• Single-hop: All partners max. one hop apart
• Bluetooth piconet, PDAs in a room,
gaming devices…

• Multi-hop: Cover larger distances,

circumvent obstacles
• Bluetooth scatternet, TETRA police network,
car-to-car networks…

• Internet: MANET (Mobile Ad-hoc Networking) group

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Manet: Mobile Ad-hoc Networking

Mobile
Router

Manet

Mobile
Devices

Mobile IP,
DHCP

Fixed
Network

Router End system

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Problem No. 1: Routing
• Highly dynamic network topology
• Device mobility plus varying channel quality
• Separation and merging of networks possible
• Asymmetric connections possible
N7 N6
N6
N7
N1 N1
N2 N3
N3 N2

N4 N4
N5 N5

time = t1 time = t2

good link
weak link

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Traditional routing algorithms
• Distance Vector
• periodic exchange of messages with all physical neighbors
that contain information about who can be reached at what
distance
• selection of the shortest path if several paths available
• Link State
• periodic notification of all routers about the current state of
all physical links
• router get a complete picture of the network
• Example
• ARPA packet radio network (1973), DV-Routing
• every 7.5s exchange of routing tables including link quality
• updating of tables also by reception of packets
• routing problems solved with limited flooding

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.33

Routing in ad-hoc networks
• THE big topic in many research projects
• Far more than 50 different proposals exist
• The most simplest one: Flooding!

• Reasons
• Classical approaches from fixed networks fail
• Very slow convergence, large overhead
• High dynamicity, low bandwidth, low computing power

• Metrics for routing

• Minimal
• Number of nodes, loss rate, delay, congestion, interference …
• Maximal
• Stability of the logical network, battery run-time, time of
connectivity …

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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, sleep modes
difficult to realize
• 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

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DSDV (Destination Sequenced
Distance Vector, historical)
• Early work
• on demand version: AODV

• Expansion of distance vector routing

• Sequence numbers for all routing updates

• assures in-order execution of all updates
• avoids loops and inconsistencies

• Decrease of update frequency

• store time between first and best announcement of a path
• inhibit update if it seems to be unstable (based on the stored
time values)

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Dynamic source routing I
• 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!

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.37

Dynamic source routing II
• 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)

• Optimizations
• limit broadcasting if maximum diameter of the network is known
• caching of address lists (i.e. paths) with help of passing packets
• stations can use the cached information for path discovery (own paths
or paths for other hosts)

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DSR: Route Discovery
Sending from C to O P R

C
G Q

B I
E
K M O
A
H

D L
F J N

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 DSR: Route Discovery
Broadcast P R
[O,C,4711]
C
[O,C,4711] G Q

B I
E
K M O
A
H

D L
F J N

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.40

DSR: Route Discovery

P R
[O,C/G,4711]
C
G [O,C/G,4711] Q
[O,C/B,4711]

B I
E
K M O
A
[O,C/E,4711] H

D L
F J N

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.41

 DSR: Route Discovery

P R

C
G Q

[O,C/G/I,4711]
B I
E
K M O
A
H
[O,C/E/H,4711]
[O,C/B/A,4711] D L
F J N
[O,C/B/D,4711]
(alternatively: [O,C/E/D,4711])

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.42

DSR: Route Discovery

P R

C
G Q

[O,C/G/I/K,4711]
B I
E
K M O
A
H

D L
F J N
[O,C/E/H/J,4711]
[O,C/B/D/F,4711]

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.43

DSR: Route Discovery

P R

C
G Q

[O,C/G/I/K/M,4711]
B I
E
K M O
A
H

D L
F J N

[O,C/E/H/J/L,4711]
(alternatively: [O,C/G/I/K/L,4711])

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.44

DSR: Route Discovery

P R

C
G Q

B I
E
K M O
A
H

D L
F J N

[O,C/E/H/J/L/N,4711]

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.45

DSR: Route Discovery

P R

C
G Q

Path: M, K, I, G
B I
E
K M O
A
H

D L
F J N

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Dynamic Source Routing III
• Maintaining paths
• after sending a packet
• wait for a layer 2 acknowledgement (if applicable)
• listen into the medium to detect if other stations forward the
packet (if possible)
• request an explicit acknowledgement
• if a station encounters problems it can inform the sender of a
packet or look-up a new path locally

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Interference-based routing
• Routing based on assumptions about interference between
signals
N1
N2

R1
S1 N3

N4

N5 N6 R2
S2

N8 N9
N7
neighbors
(i.e. within radio range)

courtesy from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller 8.48

Examples for interference based
routing
• Least Interference Routing (LIR)
• calculate the cost of a path based on the number of stations
that can receive a transmission
• Max-Min Residual Capacity Routing (MMRCR)
• calculate the cost of a path based on a probability function of
successful transmissions and interference
• Least Resistance Routing (LRR)
• calculate the cost of a path based on interference, jamming
and other transmissions

• LIR is very simple to implement, only information from

direct neighbors is necessary

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Further difficulties and research areas
• Auto-Configuration
• Assignment of addresses, function, profile, program, …
• Service discovery
• Discovery of services and service providers
• Multicast
• Transmission to a selected group of receivers
• Quality-of-Service
• Maintenance of a certain transmission quality
• Power control
• Minimizing interference, energy conservation mechanisms
• Security
• Data integrity, protection from attacks (e.g. Denial of Service)
• Scalability
• 10 nodes? 100 nodes? 1000 nodes? 10000 nodes?
• Integration with fixed networks
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Clustering of ad-hoc networks (advantages?)
• Locality property
• Less broadcast msgs
• More scalable?
Internet
Cluster head
Base station

Cluster

Super cluster

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Finalizando...
• Fim do capítulo Mobile network layer
• Leiam o capítulo 8
• Próxima aula trataremos sobre a camada de transporte em
ambientes móveis

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