A Provably-Correct Protocol for Seamless Communication with Mobile, Multi-Homed Hosts

Abstract: Modern consumer devices, like smartphones and tablets, have multiple interfaces (e.g., WiFi and 3G) that attach to new access points as users move. These mobile, multi-homed computers are a poor match with an Internet architecture that binds connections to fixed end-points with topology- dependent addresses. As a result, hosts typically cannot spread a connection over multiple interfaces or paths, or change locations without breaking existing connections. In this paper, we introduce ECCP, an end-host connection control protocol that allows hosts to communicate over mul- tiple interfaces with dynamically-changing IP addresses. Each ECCP connection consists of one or more flows, each associated with an interface or path. A host can move an existing flow from one interface to another or change the IP address using in-band signaling, without any support from the underlying network. We use formal models to verify that ECCP works correctly in the presence of packet loss, out-of-order delivery, and frequent mobility, and to identify bugs and design limitations in earlier mobility protocols.