Abstract
In mobile computing environments; the goal is to provide continuous connectivity as a mobile host moves from one network to another – often referred to as terminal mobility. All the needed reconnection occurs automatically and non-interactively (Handley at al.; 1999). Terminal mobility can be achieved by exploiting mobile IP (Perkins; 1998) to provide mobile users the convenience of seamless roaming. Another major requirement for full mobility support is the need of an architecture that enables automatic discovery of the user location which changes with mobility of the user – a feature often referred as personal mobility. New application-layer protocols such as SIP (Handley et al.; 1999) can be used to provide this personal mobility.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Delay: In a network, delay is an expression of how much time it takes for a packet of data to get from one point to another.
UDP: UDP (user datagram protocol) is a communications protocol that offers a limited amount of service when messages are exchanged between computers in a network that uses the Internet protocol (IP).
Jitter: Jitter is the variation in the time between packets arriving, caused by network congestion, timing drift, or route changes. A jitter buffer can be used to handle jitter.
TCP: TCP (transmission control protocol) is a set of rules (protocol) used along with the Internet Protocol (IP) to send data in the form of message units between computers over the Internet.
Protocol: A protocol is the special set of rules that end points in a telecommunication connection use when they communicate.
Mobile IP: Mobile IP is an Internet engineering task force (IETF) standard communications protocol that is designed to allow mobile device users to move from one network to another while maintaining their permanent IP address.
VOIP: VoIP (voice over IP) is an IP telephony term for a set of facilities used to manage the delivery of voice information over the Internet.
Handoff: Handoff is the transition for any user’s signal transmission from one base station to a geographically adjacent base station as the user moves around.
Host: In Internet protocol specifications, the term “host” means any computer that has full two-way access to other computers on the Internet. A host has a specific “local or host number” that, together with the network number, forms its unique IP address.
Internet Protocol: The Internet protocol (IP) is the method or protocol by which data is sent from one computer to another on the Internet.