The costs and benefits of combining different IP mobility standards

Several IP mobility support protocols have been standardized. Each solution provides a specific functionality and/or requires operations of particular nodes. The current trend is towards the co-existence of these solutions, though the impact of doing so has not been yet fully understood. This article reviews key standards for providing IP mobility support, the functionality achieved by combining them, and the performance cost of each combination in terms of protocol overhead and handover latency. We show that combining different mobility mechanisms has a non-negligible cost. Finally we identify a strategy for combining mobility protocols and properties that facilitate this combination.

► Review of the functionality provided by combining IP mobility support protocols.
► Analytical characterization of the costs of combining IP mobility protocols.
► Guidelines to design IP mobility support solutions that facilitate combinations.