Enabling network mobility support

Abstract

As computing devices become increasingly portable, it is becoming necessary to support Mobility as a core network functionality. The availability of devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops as well as wireless network infrastructure is opening up the possibility of using Network Mobility to cater for multiple mobile nodes simultaneously. Network mobility may be useful in a number of mobile scenarios, where a large number of mobile nodes are moving in unison. A number of operational benefits stand to be gained by aggregating these nodes into a single mobile unit. Unfortunately, the current state for network mobility support, especially in terms of network layer protocols, is limited. This is in part due to the inherent complexity of mobile network scenarios, the high cost of testing mobile network protocols in operational environments and the difficulties in implementing such protocols. This thesis looks at how network mobility support may be better enabled by making experimentation with mobile networks more accessible. It shows this by first showing how analytical approaches can be useful in mobile network applications, as they abstract away from experimental details and allow for more straight forward protocol comparisons. It then goes on to look at the tools available to study mobile network protocols, where it introduces and extends an existing tool that uses virtual machines to allow for the study of mobile network protocols. Finally, it demonstrates a practical method in which mobile network support may be easily enabled in a practical setting.