Multiple virtual interfaces to support multi-homing hosts in PMIPv6 network

Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) is a network-based mobility management protocol. Mobile node (MN) does not participate in mobility-related signaling in PMIPv6. PMIPv6 can support multi-homing hosts with the help of virtual interface to perform inter-technology handover or to support flow mobility. However, a single virtual interface has the problem of swapping link-layer identifier (LL-ID) when the neighbor discovery is performed after inter-technology handover. Whenever the single virtual interface receives an Neighbor Solicitation (NS) message, the virtual interface analyzes the NS message and it changes the LL-ID of virtual interface to the LL-ID of physical interface for keeping communication. This approach is not natural and is not recommended because it has a security problem. In this paper, the efficient inter-technology handover scheme with the multiple virtual interfaces are proposed to solve the problem of swapping LL-ID with Proxy Neighbor Advertisement message in Neighbor Discovery. This paper explains the difference based on the result of comparison with a single virtual interface. NS-3 simulation is performed to provide a clear and practical procedure of multiple virtual interfaces in PMIPv6 network.