Virtual mobility control domain for enhancements of mobility protocols

Abstract

The Virtual Mobility Control Domain (VMCD) is proposed to enhance mobility protocols such as Mobile IP and Network Mobility (NEMO). These mobility protocols rely on a single agent called the home agent. This leads to protocol weakness in terms of system robustness and redundant routes. In VMCD, multiple anchor points serving the same home network are placed as home agents at different networks on the Internet backbone. These anchor points advertise the route of the same home network to the backbone from different networks. It is similar to anycast routing approach of root DNS. By genuine routing, packets meant for mobile nodes are always drawn into the closest anchor point and are delivered to the mobile node by the anchor point on behalf of home agent. In addition, even if one of the anchor points fails, another anchor point immediately takes over for the failed anchor point. VMCD provides better routes for mobile nodes and protocol robustness with minimal involvement of end nodes. This paper discusses the VMCD solutions and shows the efficiency and effectiveness of VMCD.