Multicast support for mobile-IP with the hierarchical local registration approach

The Mobile-IP (M-IP) protocol allows IP hosts to move between different networks without the need to tear down established sessions. The Mobile-IP systems supporting local registration were introduced to reduce the frequency by which home registration with the remotely located home agent is needed. Providing an efficient system that support IP multicast, in an environment where the multicast group members frequently change their locations, is a challenge for systems providing mobility support. The local registration introduces its own additional challenges that prevent the direct application of the approaches proposed in the IETF standard to support multicast on Mobile-IP. In this work we will propose an architecture that supports IP multicast in this environment. Three flavours of the architecture are described while presenting the corresponding features. The proposed schemes take advantage of the inherent characteristics of the local registration to enhance the efficiency of the multicast support. Performance aspects such as multicast datagram delay, delivery cost and robustness are analyzed, then simulation results are used to describe the performance of the different approaches under various conditions.