Performance Gains when using

Media Independent Handover

Features with Mobile IPv6

Constantine K. (Dean) Christakos

National Institute of Standards and
Technology
Advanced Network Technologies Division
 Outline
• Basic overview of Mobile IP
• Variations on a Mobile IP theme
• Making better handover decisions
• The Media Independent Handover
framework – 802.21
• Results when using the MIH
• Future work
 Overview of Mobile IP
• Quick refresher:
– When your mobile computer travels around to
different networks, we still want your data to get to
you.
– Much like with the post office, the postmaster knows
your home address, and you give him your forwarding
address:
 Overview of Mobile IP, cont.
• The principle is the same in IP networks, except
that instead of a post office, a mobile node (MN)
has a home agent (HA) that it registers with and
a corresponding node (CN) that sends it data

CN

HA
 Overview of Mobile IP, cont.
• However, when the mobile node moves to a new access
router (the NAR), it sends a binding update to the HA,
allowing the HA to tunnel data from the CN to the mobile
node’s Care of Address (CoA)
To: Home Address

CN
To: Care of
Address

HA
BU
Ack
BU
NAR
 How It Works
• MIPv6-enabled nodes have a new
Classifier in ns2 to handle MIPv6 packets
and keep track of which address to use MIH
incoming packet Signals

MIPv6
Agent
MIPv6Classifier HierClassifier
Received binding
Update?
Joined new network
Packet to be encapsulated? Network
Packet to be decapsulated? disconnecting?
Packet sent?
Packet buffered during handover?
Packet intended for me?
MIPv6 Control packet?
 The Challenges in MIP handover
• When a mobile node moves from one access
router to another, we have problems
– Lost packets when connection is broken
– Interruption of service is no good for QoS-critical
applications like voice and video
• Goals in augmenting MobileIP
– Minimize packet loss
– Minimize handover time
• Time between last packet received in previous access router
and first packet received in the next access router
 The 802.21 Media Independent
Handover Framework
• The Media Independent Handover is a
framework that allows us to define link layer
metrics that can be used when making handover
decisions
– Signal strength
– Bit error rate
• These metrics can be used to define triggers
that provoke handover decisions
– Link Going Down
– Link Down
– Link Available
– Link Up
 MIH Framework
• Conditions on the User /
network link are Handover
Decisionmaker
passed up to the
MIH, which Triggers
Handover
decisions /

translates those into commands

MIH /
triggers Handover
• The triggers are Interface
used to make
handover decisions, Layer 2 Conditions

affecting network
Network
link conditions Link
 MIH Architecture
• We have an
implementation of MIH that
works with 802.11 and
802.16
• Implemented in ns-2
• Integrated with an ns-2
implementation of Mobile
IPv6
 Mobile IP and MIH
• MIH triggers direct our Mobile IP
implementation about when to:
– look for an alternate access router
– Connect to a new access router
• The MIH indicates signals like
– The network signal is weakening
– The network connection is lost
– There is a new network available
 With MIH vs. without MIH
• With MIH Link Going Down signal:
– When the connection gets weak, the Link Going
Down signal is triggered, and the MN looks for an
alternative access point
• With MIH Link Down signal:
– When the MN misses 3 beacons from the access
point, the Link Down signal is triggered, and the MN
looks for an alternative
• With no MIH signals:
– When the MN’s IP address times out, as given by the
IP lifetime in the router advertisement without being
renewed, the MN looks for an alternative access point
 What is handover time?
Part 1: Connection-related
• Without any MIH signals:
– Timeout of the IP address after the MN leaves the
coverage area (tip_to) + time to scan for a new AP +
time to receive a new router advertisement (tadv)
• With Link Down signals:
– Time to notice broken connection (implementation
defined) (tcon_to) + time to scan for a new AP (tscan) +
time to receive a new router advertisement (tadv)
• With Link Going Down signals:
– time to scan for a new AP (tscan) + time to receive a
new router advertisement (tadv)
 What is handover time?
Part 2: Mobile IP related
• The MN won’t receive any packets for a
time equal to the round-trip time between
the MN and Home Agent
– Time for binding update to go from MN to HA
+ time for packet at HA to be tunneled to MN
~ 2d
Rest of network

Hom
e From: Home Agent
To: CoA2

Agen
t Access Access
Router Router
1 2

MN
 Minimizing Handover Time
• The time a connection is broken from
when it is repaired is (tmih) + (tscan) + (tadv)
• Time when a connection is made to the
time packets arrive at the MN, for Mobile
IP is 2td
Additional data packet delay
Lost packets!
Packets resume
Connection Detect lost Complete Receive BU arrives Receive BU
lost connection Scan and Router at HA Ack and data
Connect advertisement packets
to new
access Send binding
router update
 Topology
CN

• We have a test
topology to look at R0 MAP

the time between

handovers AR1/H
A
AR2 AR3

• Using CBR packets Handover 1 Handover 2

of 500 byte/packet
at 20 packet/sec Handover 4 Handover 3
 Gains using MIH
• As one can see, • Delay in receiving
adding MIH reduces router advertisements
packet loss in Mobile can cause additional
IP wait time to reconnect
Lost packets Lost Packets during handover

370 50

365 40
LINK DOWN

Packets
30
Packets

360 signals
No MIH
355 20 LINK GOING
DOWN signals
350 10

345 0
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Handover Handover
 Gains using MIH
• Packets are CBR, and reduction in lost
packets is caused by a shorter handover
time
Lost packets!

Connection Detect lost Complete BU arrives

lost connection Receive at HA
Scan and
Router
Connect
advertisement
to new
access Send binding
router update

This interval This interval

Is eliminated with is variable
LINK GOING DOWN
signals
 Tradeoff: Additional Packet Delay
• Arrival latency between CN and MN is larger
because packets are being tunneled from the
Home Agent to the MN’s new location.
 Reducing Network Latency
• Network effects also increase handover
time
• Example: the time a binding update takes
to reach the Home Agent
Network distance between HA and MN
Lost packets!

Packets resume
Detect lost Complete Receive BU arrives Receive BU
connection Scan and Router at HA Ack and data
Connect advertisement packets
to new
access Send binding
router update
 Alternative: Hierarchical Mobile IP
• Hierarchical Mobile IP (HMIP) allows for a
cluster of access routers to be associated with a
Mobility Anchor Point (MAP) which serves as a
local HA
– The HA itself only knows the regional address of the
MN in the MAP region and does not receive any
updates when the MN travels within the region
– The MAP receives all update messages and, being
closer to the MN’s current AR than the HA, receives
those updates sooner
Hierarchical Mobile IP Overview
• Movement CN

within the
Mobility R0 MAP

Anchor Point
region (MAP) AR1/H
A
AR2 AR3

requires only
local updates MN
 Another Example: Fast Mobile IP
• The MN tells the previous access router
(PAR) where its new access router (NAR)
will be before it leaves
• Any packets that arrive at the PAR before
the HA is updated get forwarded on to the
MN’s new location
 How Fast Mobile IP works
• Create a tunnel between two access routers before
finishing handover to make sure no packets are lost.

Rest of network

From: Home Agent From: Home

To: CoA1 Agent
Home To: CoA1 From: AR1
To: CoA2
Agent

Access From: AR1

To: CoA2
Access
Router Router
1 2

MN
 How Fast Mobile IP Works
• Using LINK GOING
DOWN MIH signals, the
MN can tell its current
Access Router it is
moving to a new location
• The previous access
router sets up a tunnel
to the new access
router, forwarding
packets there while the
MN disconnects from its
old location and
reconnects to its new
one.
 FMIP improvement over MIP
• Where are those lost packets
coming from? Lost packets at each handover
– Even if you can realize you’re
losing your connection and set 50
up a tunnel between the PAR
40
and the NAR, the MN still Mobile IPv6
needs to break its connection

Packets
30
with the PAR while scanning 20 Fast
for the NAR MobileIPv6
10
• Solution: multiple interfaces
(in development) 0
1 2 3 4
Handover
 FMIP Tradeoff: Loss vs. Delay
• Fewer lost
packets, but
some of them will
just arrive with a
larger latency. Is
that tradeoff
worth it?

Lost packets!

Detect losing Complete Connect BU arrives

connection Scan and To NAR at HA
Negotiate
FMIP tunnel
 Future Work
• Multiple interface implementation of
MobileIP
• Information service for MIH
• Supporting security
Questions?