A Transparent Failover Mechanism for a Mobile Network with Multiple Mobile Routers

In a mobile network that is multihomed by multiple mobile routers, a mobile router that loses link connectivity can be replaced by the other mobile routers. We propose a transparent failover mechanism (TFM) to provide seamless Internet services to nodes in the mobile network, which is validated by implementing a real test-bed. Compared to the network mobility basic support protocol, TFM does not require the nodes attached to the failed mobile router to change their addresses, and hence has two advantages: (a) IP connectivity is maintained transparently, and (b) failover is quickly accomplished by avoiding the address re-configuration process in each node.