Integration of ad hoc network and IP network capabilities for mobile hosts

Mobility of user devices connecting to the Internet is of major interest in today´s research in networking. Users with portable devices, like laptops and personal digital assistants (PDA), connecting to foreign networks in the Internet want the same functionality as when connected to the home network, as well as accessibility through the home IP address. Ad hoc networking is also of major importance for connectivity between communicating mobile hosts without a backbone infrastructure and for connectivity to access points. For users as well as for applications, network mobility should be transparent. The use of the ad hoc network or the wired IP network should also be managed by the networking software and hidden from applications and users. We propose and describe an integrated connectivity solution and its software implementation between an ad hoc network running the ad hoc on-demand distance-vector (AODV) routing protocol and a wired IP network where Mobile IP is used for mobility management. With the usage of ad hoc networking, a mobile host can use multiple foreign networks to enhance the communication performance. A proposal for multihomed Mobile IP is presented to achieve this.