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Wireless Techniques - Mobility in IP and Cellular Networks
Wireless Techniques - Mobility in IP and Cellular Networks
Wireless Techniques - Mobility in IP and Cellular Networks
Wireless Techniques
Jorma Kekalainen
354
Wireless Techniques
Chapter3: Mobility in IP and cellular
networks
355
Page 1
Lecture notes
Dimensions of mobility
In the broadest sense, a mobile node is one that
changes its point of attachment into the network
over time.
The term mobility has taken on many meanings in
both the computer and telephony worlds.
From the network layers standpoint, how mobile is a
user?
A user may carry a laptop with a wireless network interface
card around in a building.
This user is not mobile from a network-layer perspective.
Mobility spectrum
At the other end of the mobility spectrum, the user is driving
along the autobahn at 200 kilometers per hour, passing through
multiple wireless access networks and wanting to maintain an
uninterrupted TCP connection to a remote application
throughout the trip.
This user is definitely very mobile!
357
Page 2
Lecture notes
What is mobility?
spectrum of mobility, from the network perspective:
no mobility
high mobility
DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is a TCP/IP protocol that enables a personal
computer or workstation to get temporary or permanent IP addresses from a pool on a
centrally-administered server. DHCP provides a mechanism for allocating IP addresses 358
manually, automatically and dynamically. This enables IP addresses to be reused.
Page 3
Lecture notes
Supporting infrastructure
What supporting wired infrastructure is available?
In all of our scenarios above, we have implicitly
assumed that there is a fixed infrastructure to which
the mobile user can connectfor example, the homes
ISP network, the wireless access network in the
office, or the wireless access networks lining the
autobahn.
What if no such infrastructure exists?
If two users are within communication proximity of
each other, can they establish a network connection
in the absence of any other network-layer
infrastructure?
Ad hoc networking provides precisely these
communication capabilities.
361
Page 4
Lecture notes
Mobility concepts
In a network setting, the permanent home of a mobile
node (such as a laptop or PDA personal digital
assistant) is known as the home network, and the
entity within the home network that performs the
mobility management functions discussed below on
behalf of the mobile node is known as the home agent.
The network in which the mobile node is currently
residing is known as the foreign (or visited) network,
and the entity within the foreign network that helps
the mobile node with the mobility management
functions discussed below is known as a foreign agent.
A correspondent is the entity wishing to
communicate with the mobile node.
Next Figure illustrates these concepts, as well as
addressing concepts considered later.
362
in visited network
that performs
mobility functions on
behalf of mobile.
wide area
network
Permanent address:
address in home
network, can always be
used to reach mobile
e.g., 128.119.40.186
Note that agents are shown as being collocated with routers (e.g., as
363 on
processes running on routers), but alternatively they could be executing
other hosts or servers in the network.
Page 5
Lecture notes
IP addressing
IP address: 32-bit
identifier for host,
router interface
interface: connection
between host/router
and physical link
223.1.1.1
223.1.1.2
223.1.1.4
223.1.1.3
223.1.2.1
223.1.2.9
223.1.2.2
223.1.3.27
364
Subnets
IP address:
subnet part (high order
bits)
host part (low order
bits)
223.1.1.1
223.1.1.2
223.1.1.4
223.1.1.3
223.1.2.9
223.1.3.27
223.1.2.2
subnet
What is a subnet ?
device interfaces with
same subnet part of IP
address
can physically reach each
other without
intervening router
223.1.2.1
223.1.3.1
223.1.3.2
365
Page 6
Lecture notes
Subnets
223.1.1.0/24
223.1.2.0/24
To determine the
subnets, detach each
interface from its
host or router,
creating islands of
isolated networks.
Each isolated network
is called a subnet.
223.1.3.0/24
Internet
AP
hub, switch
or router
BSS 1
AP
BSS 2
367
Page 7
Lecture notes
router
hub or
switch
BBS 1
AP 1
AP 2
H1
BBS 2
368
Addressing
Page 8
Lecture notes
Scalability problem
Foreign agent
Page 9
Lecture notes
Mobility addressing
Permanent address: remains
constant (e.g., 128.119.40.186)
Care-of-address: address
in visited network.
(e.g., 79,129.13.2)
wide area
network
correspondent: wants
to communicate with
mobile
372
Mobility: registration
visited network
home network
1
2
wide area
network
mobile contacts
foreign agent on
entering visited
network
End result:
Foreign agent knows about mobile
Home agent knows location of mobile
373
Page 10
Lecture notes
374
Page 11
Lecture notes
home
network
visited
network
3
wide area
network
1
correspondent
addresses packets
using home address
of mobile
4
mobile replies
directly to
correspondent
376
Page 12
Lecture notes
Rerouting details
The home agent will need to address the datagram using the mobile
nodes COA, so that the network layer will route the datagram to the
foreign network.
On the other hand, it is desirable to leave the correspondents
datagram intact, since the application receiving the datagram should be
unaware that the datagram was forwarded via the home agent.
Both goals can be satisfied by having the home agent encapsulate the
correspondents original complete datagram within a new (larger)
datagram.
This larger datagram is addressed and delivered to the mobile nodes
COA.
The foreign agent, who owns the COA, will receive and decapsulate
the datagramthat is, remove the correspondents original datagram
from within the larger encapsulating datagram and forward (step 3 in
the previous Figure) the original datagram to the mobile node.
Next Figure shows a correspondents original datagram being sent to
the home network, an encapsulated datagram being sent to the foreign
agent, and the original datagram being delivered to the mobile node.
Note that the encapsulation/decapsulation described here is identical
to the notion of tunneling in the context of IP multicast and IPv6.
378
dest: 128.119.40.186
dest: 128.119.40.186
Permanent address:
128.119.40.186
dest: 128.119.40.186
Care-of address:
79.129.13.2
packet sent by
correspondent
379
Page 13
Lecture notes
380
home
network
visited
network
3
wide area
network
1
correspondent
addresses packets
using home address
of mobile
4
mobile replies
directly to
correspondent
381
Page 14
Lecture notes
382
Example
Assume the mobile node is attached to foreign
network A, has registered a COA in network A with
its home agent, and is receiving datagrams that are
being indirectly routed through its home agent.
The mobile node now moves to foreign network B and
registers with the foreign agent in network B, which
informs the home agent of the mobile nodes new
COA.
From this point on, the home agent will reroute
datagrams to foreign network B.
As far as a correspondent is concerned, mobility is
transparent datagrams are routed via the same
home agent both before and after the move.
383
Page 15
Lecture notes
Example contd
But will the mobile node see an interrupted flow of datagrams as
it moves between networks?
As long as the time between the mobile nodes disconnection
from network A (at which point it can no longer receive
datagrams via A) and its attachment to network B (at which
point it will register a new COA with its home agent) is small,
few datagrams will be lost.
Recall that end-to-end connections can suffer datagram loss due
to network congestion.
Hence occasional datagram loss within a connection when a node
moves between networks is not a catastrophic problem.
If loss-free communication is required, upper-layer mechanisms
will recover from datagram loss, whether such loss results
from network congestion or from user mobility.
384
385
Page 16
Lecture notes
387
Page 17
Lecture notes
foreign agent
receives packets,
forwards to mobile
home
network
4
wide area
network
2
correspondent
requests, receives
foreign address of
mobile
visited
network
3
4
mobile replies
directly to
correspondent
389
Page 18
Lecture notes
391
Page 19
Lecture notes
wide area
network
foreign net
visited
at session start
anchor
foreign
agent
2
4
5
correspondent
correspondent
agent
3
new foreign
agent
new
foreign
network
Page 20
Lecture notes
wide area
network
visited
at session start
anchor
foreign
agent
2
4
5
correspondent
agent
correspondent
3
new foreign
agent
new
foreign
network
394
395
Page 21
Lecture notes
wide area
network
foreign net
visited
at session start
anchor
foreign
agent
2
4
5
correspondent
correspondent
agent
3
new foreign
agent
new
foreign
network
396
Mobility approaches
Let routing handle it: routers advertise permanent
address of mobile-nodes-in-residence via usual
routing table exchange.
routing tables indicate where each mobile located
no changes to end-systems
Let end-systems handle it:
indirect routing: communication from
correspondent to mobile goes through home
agent, then forwarded to remote
direct routing: correspondent gets foreign
address of mobile, sends directly to mobile
397
Page 22
Lecture notes
Mobility approaches
Let routing handle it: routers advertise permanent
not
address of mobile-nodes-in-residence
via usual
scalable
routing table exchange.
to millions of
routing tables indicate
mobiles where each mobile located
no changes to end-systems
let end-systems handle it:
indirect routing: communication from
correspondent to mobile goes through home
agent, then forwarded to remote
direct routing: correspondent gets foreign
address of mobile, sends directly to mobile
398
Mobile IP
The Internet architecture and protocols for supporting mobility,
collectively known as mobile IP, are defined primarily in RFC 3344
for IPv4.
Mobile IP is a flexible standard, supporting many different modes
of operation (for example, operation with or without a foreign
agent), multiple ways for agents and mobile nodes to discover each
other, use of single or multiple COAs, and multiple forms of
encapsulation.
As such, mobile IP is a complex standard, and would require an
entire book to describe in detail.
Here, well take an overview of the most important aspects of
mobile IP and to illustrate its use in a few common-case scenarios.
The mobile IP architecture contains many of the elements we have
considered above, including the concepts of home agents, foreign
agents, care-of addresses, and encapsulation/decapsulation.
399
Page 23
Lecture notes
Security
Security considerations are important
throughout the mobile IP standard.
For example, authentication of a mobile node
is clearly needed to ensure that a malicious
user does not register a fake care-of
address with a home agent, which could cause
all datagrams addressed to an IP address to
be redirected to the malicious user.
Mobile IP achieves security using many of the
mechanisms that we will not examine in our
discussion below.
400
Mobile IP standard
The mobile IP standard consists of three main pieces:
Agent discovery
Mobile IP defines the protocols used by a home or foreign
agent to advertise its services to mobile nodes, and protocols
for mobile nodes to request the services of a foreign or
home agent.
Page 24
Lecture notes
dest: 128.119.40.186
dest: 128.119.40.186
Permanent address:
128.119.40.186
dest: 128.119.40.186
Care-of address:
79.129.13.2
packet sent by
correspondent
402
Agent discovery
A mobile IP node arriving to a new network, whether
attaching to a foreign network or returning to its
home network, must learn the identity of the
corresponding foreign or home agent.
It is the discovery of a new foreign agent, with a new
network address, that allows the network layer in a
mobile node to learn that it has moved into a new
foreign network.
This process is known as agent discovery.
Agent discovery can be accomplished in one of two
ways:
via agent advertisement or via agent solicitation.
403
Page 25
Lecture notes
Agent advertisement
With agent advertisement, a foreign or home agent
advertises its services using an extension to the
existing router discovery protocol [RFC 1256].
The agent periodically broadcasts an ICMP (Internet
Control Message Protocol) message with a type field
of 9 (router discovery) on all links to which it is
connected.
The router discovery message contains the IP
address of the router (that is, the agent), thus
allowing a mobile node to learn the agents IP
address.
The router discovery message also contains a mobility
agent advertisement extension that contains
additional information needed by the mobile node.404
Note: ICMP
The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is one of the
core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite.
It is chiefly used by networked computers' operating systems to
send error messages indicating, for instance, that a
requested service is not available or that a host or router
could not be reached.
ICMP relies on IP to perform its tasks, and it is an integral part
of IP.
It differs in purpose from transport protocols such as TCP and
UDP in that it is typically not used to send and receive data
between end systems.
Internet Router Discovery Protocol (IRDP) uses Internet
Control Message Protocol (ICMP) router advertisements and
router solicitation messages to allow a host to discover the
addresses of operational routers on the subnet.
405
Page 26
Lecture notes
Agent advertisement
Among the more important fields in the extension are the
following:
Home agent bit (H). Indicates that the agent is a home agent for
the network in which it resides.
Foreign agent bit (F). Indicates that the agent is a foreign agent
for the network in which it resides.
Registration required bit (R). Indicates that a mobile user in this
network must register with a foreign agent.
In particular, a mobile user cannot obtain a care-of address in the
foreign network and assume the functionality of the foreign agent for
itself, without registering with the foreign agent.
407
Page 27
Lecture notes
Agent solicitation
With agent solicitation, a mobile node wanting
to learn about agents without waiting to
receive an agent advertisement can
broadcast an agent solicitation message,
which is simply an ICMP message with type
value 10.
An agent receiving the solicitation will unicast
an agent advertisement directly to the mobile
node, which can then proceed as if it had
received an advertisement.
408
Page 28
Lecture notes
Page 29
Lecture notes
Page 30
Lecture notes
foreign agent
COA: 79.129.13.2
Mobile agent
MA: 128.119.40.186
registration req.
registration req.
COA: 79.129.13.2
HA: 128.119.40.7
MA: 128.119.40.186
Lifetime: 9999
identification: 714
encapsulation format
.
COA: 79.129.13.2
HA: 128.119.40.7
MA: 128.119.40.186
Lifetime: 9999
identification:714
.
registration reply
time
HA: 128.119.40.7
MA: 128.119.40.186
Lifetime: 4999
Identification: 714
encapsulation format
.
registration reply
HA: 128.119.40.7
MA: 128.119.40.186
Lifetime: 4999
Identification: 714
.
414
Recap: Mobile IP
RFC 3344
has many features we have seen:
home agents, foreign agents, foreign-agent
registration, care-of-addresses, encapsulation
(packet-within-a-packet)
415
Page 31
Lecture notes
cell
covers geographical
region
base station (BS)
analogous to 802.11 AP
mobile users attach
to network through BS
air-interface:
physical and link layer
protocol between
mobile and BS
Mobile
Switching
Center
Public telephone
network, and
Internet
Mobile
Switching
Center
wired network
416
MSC
MSC
MSC
MSC
Page 32
Lecture notes
time slots
418
419
Page 33
Lecture notes
CDMA-2000 (phase 1)
data rates up to 144K
evolved from IS-95
420
4G systems: multimedia
Up to 100Mbps
Note: Use acronyms for reference only: Dont drown in alphabet soup!
421
GSM
Page 34
Lecture notes
Page 35
Lecture notes
424
Page 36
Lecture notes
2
home MSC consults HLR,
gets roaming number of
mobile in visited network
home
network
correspondent
home
Mobile
Switching
Center
1
VLR Mobile
Switching
Center
Public
switched
telephone
network
mobile
user
visited
network
call routed
to home network
Page 37
Lecture notes
2. The home MSC receives the call and interrogates the HLR to
determine the location of the mobile user.
In the simplest case, the HLR returns the mobile station roaming number
(MSRN), which we will refer to as the roaming number.
Note that this number is different from the mobiles permanent phone
number, which is associated with the mobiles home network.
HLR
2
home MSC consults HLR,
gets roaming number of
mobile in visited network
correspondent
home
Mobile
Switching
Center
1
VLR
3
Mobile
Switching
Center
mobile
user
visited
network
Public
switched
telephone
network
call routed
to home network
Page 38
Lecture notes
Handovers in GSM
A handover occurs when a mobile station changes its
association from one base station to another during
a call.
A mobiles call is initially (before handover) routed to
the mobile through one base station (which well refer
to as the old base station), and after handover is
routed to the mobile through another base station
(which well refer to as the new base station).
Note that a handover between base stations results
not only in the mobile transmitting/receiving to/from
a new base station, but also in the rerouting of the
ongoing call from a switching point within the network
to the new base station.
431
Page 39
Lecture notes
VLR Mobile
Switching
Center
old
routing
new
routing
old BSS
new BSS
433
Page 40
Lecture notes
Steps of handover
Lets initially assume that the old and new base stations share
the same MSC, and that the rerouting occurs at this MSC.
1. The old base station (BS) informs the visited MSC that a
handover is to be performed and the BS (or possible set of BSs)
to which the mobile is to be handed over.
2. The visited MSC initiates path setup to the new BS, allocating
the resources needed to carry the rerouted call, and signaling
the new BS that a handover is about to occur.
3. The new BS allocates and activates a radio channel for use by
the mobile.
4. The new BS signals back to the visited MSC and the old BS
that the visited MSC-to-new-BS path has been established and
that the mobile should be informed of the coming handover.
The new BS provides all of the information that the mobile will need
to associate with the new BS.
434
Steps of handover
5. The mobile is informed that it should perform a handover.
Note that up until this point, the mobile has been totally unaware
that the network has been laying the groundwork (e.g., allocating a
channel in the new BS and allocating a path from the visited MSC to
the new BS) for a handover.
8. The resources allocated along the path to the old BS are then
released.
435
Page 41
Lecture notes
VLR Mobile
Switching
Center 2
1
8
old BSS
3
6
new BSS
436
Anchor MSC
Lets consider what happens when the mobile moves to
a BS that is associated with a different MSC than
the old BS, and what happens when this inter-MSC
handover occurs more than once.
In GSM terminology the notion of an anchor MSC is
defined.
The anchor MSC is the MSC visited by the mobile
when a call first begins; the anchor MSC thus remains
unchanged during the call.
Throughout the calls duration and regardless of the
number of inter-MSC transfers performed by the
mobile, the call is routed from the home MSC to the
anchor MSC, and then from the anchor MSC to the
visited MSC where the mobile is currently located.
437
Page 42
Lecture notes
Anchor MSC
When a mobile moves from the coverage area of one MSC to
another, the ongoing call is rerouted from the anchor MSC to
the new visited MSC containing the new base station.
Thus, at all times there are at most three MSCs (the home MSC,
the anchor MSC, and the visited MSC) between the
correspondent and the mobile.
Rather than maintaining a single MSC hop from the anchor MSC
to the current MSC, an alternative approach would have been to
simply chain the MSCs visited by the mobile, having an old MSC
forward the ongoing call to the new MSC each time the mobile
moves to a new MSC.
Such MSC chaining can in fact occur in some cellular networks,
with an optional path minimization step to remove MSCs between
the anchor MSC and the current visited MSC.
438
home network
correspondent
Home
MSC
anchor MSC
MSC
PSTN
MSC
MSC
Page 43
Lecture notes
home network
correspondent
Home
MSC
anchor MSC
PSTN
MSC
MSC
MSC
Hard handover :
In FDMA or TDMA cellular system, new communication establishes after
breaking current communication at the moment doing handover.
Communication between MS and BS breaks at the moment switching
frequency or time slot.
switching
Cell B
Cell A
441
Page 44
Lecture notes
Cell B
Cell A
Soft handover : break (old cell A) after connect (new cell B) 442
Mobility/Handover in umbrella
cells
Page 45
Lecture notes
444
Mobile IP element
Home system
Home network
Gateway Mobile
Switching Center,
or home MSC.
Home Location
Register (HLR)
Home agent
Visited System
Visited network
Visited Mobile
services Switching
Center.
Visitor Location
Register (VLR)
Foreign agent
Mobile Station
Roaming Number
(MSRN), or
roaming number
Page 46
Lecture notes
446
447
Page 47
Lecture notes
Page 48