Remote stateful autoconfiguration for mobile IPv6 nodes with server side Duplicate Address Detection

During interdomain handover, IPv6 node has to acquire new address at its new location. Once the L2 handover procedure is completed, mobile node (MN) starts its IPv6 configuration, using stateless (router advertisements) or stateful (DHCPv6 communication) mode. After the address is obtained, its uniqueness has to be verified, using Duplicate Address Detection (DAD) procedure. Depending on the interface type, this procedure may easily take more than 1000 ms. Assigned address can be used only after DAD procedure is complete, e.g. for informing corresponding nodes (CNs) about new MN location. DAD procedure introduces unwanted delays in handover and reconfiguration process. In the paper new mechanism that moves the burden of address uniqueness verification from mobile IPv6 nodes to static DHCPv6 servers is proposed. Proposed server-side DAD mechanism is presented, together with validation techniques used to verify its usefulness. The paper also proposes updated, recently introduced mechanism that enables IPv6 address acquisition and other configuration options in advance, before actual handover is performed. Mechanism itself and its verification techniques are discussed. Results of extensive simulation experiments performed in a mobile WiMAX network with IPv6 support, statistical analysis as well as areas of further study conclude this paper.