Mobility support in hybrid wireless/IP networking

The ramifications of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP) networking with mobile hosts and wireless links in a hybrid wireless/IP environment are examined. Two issues that affect the performance of TCP/IP are mobility support in the network layer and coping with packet errors in TCP flow/congestion control in the transport layer. The operational features of agent-assisted, routeroriented and hybrid strategies for mobility support are identified and discussed. Packet errors due to transmission through the wireless channel and handover induced by user mobility can pose problem for the conventional TCP flow control in the transport layer. Strategies to cope with errors in packets that enter the TCP connection are described and discussed. q 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.