Abstract
In recent years; we have witnessed a tremendous growth of wireless networks as well as the emergence of various kinds of devices (Personal Digital Assistants; handhelds; digital cellular phones) with different capabilities and processing power [Perkins; 1998]. These technological changes have paved the way for mobile networking and wireless Internet applications. In mobile networking; computing activities are not disrupted when the user changes the computer’s point of attachment to the network (e.g. to the Internet). All the needed reconnection occurs automatically and non-interactively [Perkins; 1998]. Providing mobile computing capabilities enables users to access the Internet services anytime; anywhere. In this context; there is increasing demand from end-users to support continuous connectivity and uninterrupted service of their Internet applications as they move about across different networking environments.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Fragmentation: In TCP/IP, fragmentation refers to the process of breaking packets into the smallest maximum size packet data unit (PDU) supported by any of the underlying networks.
IPv6: IPv6 (Internet protocol version 6) is the latest version of the Internet protocol (IP) and is now included as part of IP support in many products including the major computer operating systems. IPv6 has also been called “IPng” (IP next generation).
Reliability: Reliability is an attribute of any computer- related component (software, or hardware, or a network, for example) that consistently performs according to its specifications.
Multi-Homed: Multi-homed describes a computer host that has multiple IP addresses to connected networks. A multi-homed host is physically connected to multiple data links that can be on the same or different networks.
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.
Protocol: A protocol is a special set of rules that end points in a telecommunication connection use when they communicate.
Voice Over IP (VoIP): VoIP is an IP telephony term for a set of facilities used to manage the delivery of voice information over the Internet.