Wireless access considerations for the MobilityFirst future Internet architecture

This paper presents an overview of wireless access considerations behind the design of the MobilityFirst clean-slate future Internet architecture. The MobilityFirst architecture is motivated by a historic shift of the Internet from the fixed host-server model to one in which access from mobile platforms becomes the norm. This implies the need for a future Internet architecture designed to handle the special needs of mobile/wireless access efficiently and at large scale. A number of key wireless access network requirements including user/network mobility, varying wireless link quality and disconnection, multi-homing, ad hoc networking, flexible autonomous system boundaries and spectrum coordination are identified along with a brief discussion of the implications for protocol design. This is followed by a summary of the MobilityFirst protocol stack based on separation of names and locators, global name resolution service (GNRS), storage-aware routing with hop-by-hop transport, integrated spectrum management, along with an enhanced edge-aware interdomain routing framework. Selected results from ongoing protocol design and evaluation work are given for key components such as the GNRS, storage-aware routing and spectrum coordination protocol.