This work proposes extensions to Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) for providing scalability
and route optimization features to heterogeneous Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). WMNs
are multi-hop wireless networks with self-healing and self-configuring capabilities. PMIPv6
is designed to provide network-based mobility management to Mobile Nodes (MNs) having
standard IPv6 stack. Applying PMIPv6 and its proposed extensions to WMNs can make them
a promising solution for ubiquitous Internet access and a wide range of applications, as
Public Safety and emergency communications.
A cluster-based approach is proposed for federating the mesh routers into different
PMIPv6 domains, each of them managed by a cluster-head. All mesh routers can act as
access routers for “unmodified” MNs. No assumptions are made on MNs’ access technology.
Taking into account such cluster-based architecture, inter-clusters communication and
mobility aspects with route optimization have been tested in our virtual IPv6 WMN. We have
developed a virtualization-based testbed, using a combination of User-mode Linux (UML)
and Ns-2 Emulation, with the scope of being as close as possible to real experimentation
results and to easily migrate to the real testbed in the near future. A preliminary measurement
on the signaling cost in terms of delay is also provided.
The obtained results show that PMIPv6, together with scalability and route optimization
features, can improve the mobility issues of WMNs and this work can represent a good
solution for crisis management and emergency scenarios.
