IPv6 prefix delegation-based addressing solution for a mobile personal area network

This paper provides a dynamic IPv6 prefix delegation-based addressing solution to enable Internet connectivity when a Personal Area Network (PAN) is moving between sub-networks. A PAN consists of a cluster of mobile devices, which are dynamically connected with each other and move around together. The approach is based on IPv6 stateless address auto-configuration, and Automatic Prefix Delegation Protocol for IPv6. The problems related to addressing, mobility and IPv6 prefix delegation are evaluated with the constructed prototype. The experiences indicate that the solution is quite light and enables session continuity in subnet changes for any mobile node of a PAN. In addition, the solution does not exclude application of Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6), however Mobile IPv6 is not necessarily needed when Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) based mobility is applied. By using SIP, route optimization is also achieved and IPv6 encapsulation is avoided with UDP-based sessions. However, the solution is not necessarily very scalable to big mobile networks.