Implementation Of MobileIPv6 Protocols

Abstract Mobile IPv6 is a proposed mobility standard for Next Generation Wireless Access Networks that allows mobile nodes, such as laptops, tablets, smart phones to stay reachable while moving around in an IPv6 Internet network. The need for MIPv6 exists because a mobile device cannot maintain the previously connected link when changing location and IP address. The initial IP Mobility protocol was first presented in 1993 for IPv4 and in 2004 for IPv6. The Mobile IP protocol solves the TCP/IP Stack Layer 3 mobility issue, by assigning a permanent IP Home Agent address to the mobile node. IPv4 has some drawbacks, the main one being IP address exhaustion, making MIPv6 the future option for mobility protocol in IP Networks. The main goal of the mobility protocol is to enable network applications to operate continuously at the required quality of service for both wired and wireless networks while the mobile node moves around in the network. MIPv6 on its own needs optimization techniques to improve the handover latency of the protocol and to minimize the latency. The test bed was used to test handover latency, overhead added by the MIPv6 extensions and packet loss. The developed test set up can also be used to evaluate different handover schemes that might enhance the MIPv6 protocol, decreasing handover latency and enabling real-time IPv6 applications such as Voice over IP. FMIPv6 and PMIPv6 are extensions to MIPv6 to enhance its functionality. These protocols are investigated and evaluated against MIPv6 in order to make recommendations on possible improvements of these mobility protocols.