Mobility and address freedom in AllNet

Mobile devices can be addressed through a variety of means. We propose that each device select its own addresses, we motivate this choice, and we describe mechanisms for delivering data using these addresses. Hierarchical point-of-attachment addresses are not effective with mobile devices. To support mobility, the network has to maintain a global mapping between addresses and locations. Given that such a mapping must be maintained anyway, there is no reason for structure in mobile addresses. Mobile addresses may therefore be unstructured and even self-selected. The advantages of self-selected addresses include the ability of devices to join and form a network without any need for prior agreement or central coordination, and the ability to choose a personal, memorable address. Self-selection does require a mechanism to resolve ambiguity when the same address is selected by multiple devices. Of the many possible ways to provide such disambiguation, we investigate disambiguation that relies on the authentication and encryption used for communications security. The principles presented here are general, and complemented by examples of unstructured and self-selected addresses used within the AllNet network protocol.