A New Efficient Mechanism for Establishing IP Connectivity between Ambient Networks

The changes in the communication paradigm envisioned for future networks, with peer-to-peer/symmetric attachments gaining momentum and two IP (Internet protocol) versions coexisting, will pose new challenges to mobile communication networks. Traditional IP auto-configuration mechanisms will not work properly, since they were designed mostly having in mind a client-server/asymmetric attachment model, they assume a single IP version paradigm, and they target the auto-configuration of devices only. The 1ST ambient networks project has introduced a new concept - the ambient network - that enables handling every communication entity, either a single device or an entire network, as an ambient network (AN). This paper describes a new efficient mechanism, named basic connectivity (BC) mechanism, for auto-configuring IP connectivity between attaching ANs. A proof-of-concept prototype, experimental results, and theoretical analysis show that BC suites the future networking paradigm and represents a solution more efficient than the current trial-and-error mechanism for auto-configuring IP connectivity.