Mobile IP

TLDR

Mobile IP, defined by the IETF, enables mobile users to stay connected while moving by using agent advertisement, registration, and tunneling protocols, and includes route‑optimization and various tunneling mechanisms. The protocol introduces additional messages that reduce the inefficiency caused by routing data through the home agent. The paper concludes by outlining remaining challenges for Mobile IP and highlighting areas of ongoing protocol development.

Abstract

Mobile IP has been designed within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to serve the needs of the burgeoning population of mobile computer users who wish to connect to the Internet and maintain communications as they move from place to place. The basic protocol is described, with details given on the three major component protocols: agent advertisement, registration, and tunneling. Then route optimization procedures are outlined, and further topics of current interest are described. The available tunneling mechanisms are shown, which the home agent uses to forward datagrams from the home network to the mobile computer. Having covered the details of the base mobile IP specification, we then describe further protocol messages which help to decrease the inefficiency associated with inserting the home agent in the routing path of data destined for mobile computers. Finally, we summarize and discuss the current problems facing mobile IP, as well as a few areas of active protocol development.