Performance analysis of network mobility protocols in IP networks

To support mobile nodes moving across different networks as a whole, the IETF NEMOv6 (RFC 3963) has been proposed. Compared with Mobile IPv6 protocol, the NEMOv6 provides a method to enable a network moving entirely. Mobile Router (MR) is introduced to the NEMOv6, which performs mobility management function for the entire mobile network. All nodes belonged to the mobile network, fixed or mobile, are hidden by the MR when the network moving. The NEMOv6 protocols have many advantages that it can reduce the cost of network access signaling, network bandwidth and radio resources occupied. This paper analyzes the characteristics of network mobility protocols in IP networks, and simulates handoff performance of a Mobile Router (MR) with a subnet by changing the number of MNs. Based on the simulation results, we demonstrate the impact of mobile network scale and illustrate its superiority to MIPv6. Furthermore, a Linux OS based network mobility experiment platform was established to evaluate the practical handoff performance of LMN as well as VMN. Lastly, future work of network mobility management is proposed.