Supporting Fast

Handoffs in Mobile IP

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Fast Handoffs
 For highly mobile users, handoffs will be
too frequent. Implications of this:
 Handoffs should be very fast in order to minimize
packet delays and packet losses.
 Registration will be too frequent:
 Registration causes delay
 Registration causes extra signaling (control) traffic
in the wireless link and infrastructure.
 Two solution approaches to support fast
handoffs:
 Use of IP multicasting
 Use of hierarchical foreign agents.

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Use of IP Multicasting
 A collection of foreign agents in the vicinity of
each other join to a multicast group. The group
will have a multicast IP address.
 Mobile node will use this multicast IP address as
the care-of-address.
 The home agent will send the encapsulated
packets for the mobile to this multicast IP
address.
 Foreign agents in the multicast group will buffer
the received encapsulated IP packets for a while
before discarding
 In this way, when a mobile handoffs from one FA to an
other FA (in the same multicast group), it will be able to
recover the packets transmitted during handoff from the
new FA.
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Use of IP Multicasting
CH

HA
INTERNET

FA3
IP Multicast Group

FA1 FA2 M

M M

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Hierarchical Foreign Agents

 Uses a hierarchy of foreign agents

between mobile node and home agent.
 Aims is to localize handoffs and
registration.
 The hierarchy could be consisting of for
example:
 Base stations (access points) at the lowest level –
leaf.
 Intermediate routers between base stations and
campus edge routers in a campus.
 Campus edge router at the highest level (root) of the
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foreign agent hierarchy.
Hierarchical Foreign Agents
CH
Binding

MHFA1 HA

INTERNET

MHFA2 FA1 MHFA3

MHFA5 MHFA6
MHFA4 FA2 FA3

FA4 FA5 FA6 FA7

MHIF MHIF MHIF

MH MH MH

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Hierarchical Foreign Agents

 The following functions of Mobile IP is

enhanced:
 Agent Advertisements
 Registration
 Data Forwarding

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Agent Advertisements
CH

HA

Mobility Agent Extension

to ICMP Router Advertisement INTERNET
Type Length Sequence Number

Lifetime Flags Reserved

FA1
Zero or more care-of-addresses
……….
FA1 FA1

FA2 FA3
Agent Advertisement message
Care-of-Address field content
FA2, FA1 FA2, FA1 FA3, FA1
In a message. FAx denotes the IP address
of Foreign Agent X. FA4 FA5 FA6 FA7

FA4, FA2, FA1 FA6, FA3, FA1

MH

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 Registration CH

MHFA1 HA

Registration Request Format

INTERNET
0 8 16 31
Type Flags Lifetime

Home address=MH MHFA2 FA1

Home agent=FA2
Care-of—address=FA5
MHFA4 MHFA5 FA3
Identification FA2

Extensions
(Authentication Extension)
…..
MHIF MHIF
FA4 FA5 FA6 FA7

FA5, FA2, FA1

REG PKT

FA4, FA2, FA1 MH MH FA4, FA2, FA1

Compare FA4, FA2, FA1

With FA5, FA2, FA1

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 Src Dst

Forwarding CH MH IP payload

IP Packet
CH

MHFA1 HA

Src Dst Src Dst

Dst INTERNET
FA1 HA CH MH IP payload

Encapsulated IP Packet

FA1 MHFA2
Src Dst Src Dst
FA1 FA2 CH MH IP payload

MHFA5
Each FA takes an encapsulated FA2 FA3
packet from previous FA (or HA)
and recapsulates the packet FA2 FA5 CH MH IP payload
to be sent to the next FA.
FA4 FA5 MHIF FA6 FA7
If an FA is the final FA on the
way to the mobile node, then
it does not recapsulate the packet. CH MH IP payload

MH

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