Network Working Group                                      B. Aboba, Ed.
INTERNET-DRAFT                               Internet Architecture Board
Category: Informational                                              IAB
<draft-iab-link-indications-06.txt>
2 February 2007



             Architectural Implications of Link Indications

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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007).

Abstract

   A link indication represents information provided by the link layer
   to higher layers regarding the state of the link.  This document
   describes the role of link indications within the Internet
   Architecture.  While the judicious use of link indications can
   provide performance benefits, inappropriate use can degrade both
   robustness and performance.  This document summarizes current
   proposals, describes the architectural issues and provides examples
   of appropriate and inappropriate uses of link indications.




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Table of Contents

1.  Introduction..............................................    3
      1.1 Requirements .......................................    3
      1.2 Terminology ........................................    3
      1.3 Overview ...........................................    4
      1.4 Layered Indication Model ...........................    6
2.  Architectural Considerations .............................   13
      2.1 Model Validation ...................................   14
      2.2 Clear Definitions ..................................   14
      2.3 Robustness .........................................   16
      2.4 Congestion Control .................................   19
      2.5 Effectiveness ......................................   20
      2.6 Interoperability ...................................   20
      2.7 Race Conditions ....................................   21
      2.8 Layer Compression ..................................   24
      2.9 Transport of Link Indications ......................   25
3.  Future Work ..............................................   26
4.  Security Considerations ..................................   27
      4.1 Spoofing ...........................................   27
      4.2 Indication Validation ..............................   28
      4.3 Denial of Service ..................................   29
5.  IANA Considerations ......................................   29
6.  References ...............................................   29
      6.1 Informative References .............................   29
Appendix A - Literature Review ...............................   38
      A.0 Terminology ........................................   38
      A.1 Link Layer .........................................   38
      A.2 Internet Layer .....................................   48
      A.3 Transport Layer ....................................   49
      A.4 Application Layer ..................................   53
Appendix B - IAB Members .....................................   55
Authors' Addresses ...........................................   55
Full Copyright Statement .....................................   55
Intellectual Property Statement ..............................   56
















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1.  Introduction

   A link indication represents information provided by the link layer
   to higher layers regarding the state of the link.  While the
   judicious use of link indications can provide performance benefits,
   inappropriate use can degrade both robustness and performance.

   This document summarizes the current understanding of the role of
   link indications, and provides advice to document authors about the
   appropriate use of link indications within the Internet, Transport
   and Application layers.

   Section 1 describes the history of link indication usage within the
   Internet architecture and provides a model for the utilization of
   link indications.  Section 2 describes the architectural
   considerations and provides advice to document authors.  Section 3
   describes recommendations and future work.  Appendix A summarizes the
   literature on link indications in wireless Local Area Networks
   (LANs).

1.1.  Requirements

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED",  "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

1.2.  Terminology

Asymmetric
     A link with transmission characteristics which are different
     depending upon the relative position or design characteristics of
     the transmitter and the receiver is said to be asymmetric.  For
     instance, the range of one transmitter may be much higher than the
     range of another transmitter on the same medium.

Link A communication facility or medium over which nodes can communicate
     at the link layer, i.e., the layer immediately below the Internet
     Protocol (IP).

Link Down
     An event provided by the link layer that signifies a state change
     associated with the interface no longer being capable of
     communicating data frames; transient periods of high frame loss are
     not sufficient.

Link Layer
     Conceptual layer of control or processing logic that is responsible
     for maintaining control of the link.  The link layer functions



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     provide an interface between the higher-layer logic and the link.
     The link layer is the layer immediately below the Internet Protocol
     (IP).

Link indication
     Information provided by the link layer to higher layers regarding
     the state of the link.

Link Up
     An event provided by the link layer that signifies a state change
     associated with the interface becoming capable of communicating
     data frames.

Point of Attachment
     The endpoint on the link to which the host is currently connected.

Operable address
     The term "operable address" refers to either a static address or a
     dynamically assigned address which has not been relinquished, and
     has not expired.

Routable address
     In this specification, the term "routable address" refers to any
     IPv4 address other than an IPv4 Link-Local address.  This includes
     private addresses as specified in "Address Allocation for Private
     Internets" [RFC1918].

Strong End System Model
     In the Strong End System model, packets sent out an interface have
     a source address configured on that interface and incoming packets
     whose destination does not correspond to the physical interface
     through which it is received are silently discarded.  In general,
     the Strong End System model emphasizes the host/gateway
     distinction, tending to model a multihomed host as a set of logical
     hosts within the same physical host.

Weak End System Model
     In the Weak End System Model, packets sent out an interface need
     not necessarily have a source address configured on that interface,
     and incoming packets whose destination does not correspond to the
     physical interface through which it is received are accepted.

1.3.  Overview

   The integration of link indications with the Internet architecture
   has a long history.  Link status was first taken into account in
   routing as 1969.  In response to an attempt to send to a host that
   was off-line, the ARPANET link layer protocol provided a "Destination



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   Dead" indication, described in "Fault Isolation and Recovery"
   [RFC816].  Link-aware routing metrics also have a long history; the
   ARPANET packet radio experiment [PRNET] incorporated frame loss in
   the calculation of routing metrics, a precursor to more recent link-
   aware routing metrics such as Expected Transmission Count (ETX),
   described in "A High-Throughput Path Metric for Multi-Hop Wireless
   Routing" [ETX].

   "Routing Information Protocol" [RFC1058] defines RIP, which is
   descended from the Xerox Network Systems (XNS) Routing Information
   Protocol.  "The Open Shortest Path First Specification" [RFC1131]
   defined OSPF, which uses Link State Advertisements (LSAs) in order to
   flood information relating to link status within an OSPF area.  While
   these and other routing protocols can utilize "Link Up" and "Link
   Down" indications provided by those links that support them, they
   also can detect link loss based on loss of routing packets.  As noted
   in "Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers" [RFC1812]:

      It is crucial that routers have workable mechanisms for
      determining that their network connections are functioning
      properly.  Failure to detect link loss, or failure to take the
      proper actions when a problem is detected, can lead to black
      holes.

   Attempts have also been made to define link indications other than
   "Link Up" and "Link Down".  "Dynamically Switched Link Control
   Protocol" [RFC1307] defines an experimental protocol for control of
   links, incorporating "Down", "Coming Up", "Up", "Going Down", "Bring
   Down" and "Bring Up" states.

   "A Generalized Model for Link Layer Triggers" [GenTrig] defines
   "generic triggers", including "Link Up", "Link Down", "Link Going
   Down", "Link Going Up", "Link Quality Crosses Threshold", "Trigger
   Rollback", and "Better Signal Quality AP Available".  IEEE 802.21
   [IEEE-802.21] defines a Media Independent Handover Event Service
   (MIH-ES) that provides event reporting relating to link
   characteristics, link status, and link quality.  Events defined
   include "Link Down", "Link Up", "Link Going Down", "Link Signal
   Strength" and "Link Signal/Noise Ratio".

   Under ideal conditions, links in the "up" state experience low frame
   loss in both directions and are immediately ready to send and receive
   data frames; links in the "down" state are unsuitable for sending and
   receiving data frames in either direction.

   Unfortunately links frequently exhibit non-ideal behavior.  Wired
   links may fail in half-duplex mode, or exhibit partial impairment
   resulting in intermediate loss rates.  Wireless links may exhibit



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   asymmetry, intermittent frame loss or rapid changes in attainable
   data rate due to interference or signal fading.  In both wired and
   wireless links, the link state may rapidly flap between the "up" and
   "down" states.  This real world behavior presents challenges to the
   integration of link indications with the Internet, Transport and
   Application layers.

1.4.  Layered Indication Model

   A layered indication model is shown in Figure 1 which includes both
   internally generated link indications (such as link state and rate)
   and indications arising from external interactions such as path
   change detection.

   In this model, it is assumed that the link layer provides indications
   to higher layers primarily in the form of abstract indications that
   are link-technology agnostic.

1.4.1.  Internet Layer

   One of the functions of the Internet layer is to shield higher layers
   from the specifics of link behavior.  As a result, the Internet layer
   validates and filters link indications and selects outgoing and
   incoming interfaces based on routing metrics.

   The Internet layer composes its routing table based on information
   available from local interfaces as well as potentially by taking into
   account information provided by gateways.  This enables the state of
   the local routing table to reflect link conditions on both local and
   remote links.  For example, prefixes to be added or removed from the
   routing table may be determined from DHCP [RFC2131][RFC3315], Router
   Advertisements [RFC1256][RFC2461], re-direct messages or route
   updates incorporating information on the state of links multiple hops
   away.

   The Internet layer also utilizes link indications in order to
   optimize aspects of Internet Protocol (IP) configuration and
   mobility.  After receipt of a "Link Up" indication, hosts validate
   potential IP configurations by Detecting Network Attachment (DNA)
   [RFC4436].  Once the IP configuration is confirmed, it may be
   determined that an address change has occurred.  However, "Link Up"
   indications may not result in a change to Internet layer
   configuration.

   In "Detecting Network Attachment in IPv4" [RFC4436], after receipt of
   a  "Link Up" indication, potential IP configurations are validated
   using a bi-directional reachability test.  In "Detecting Network
   Attachment in IPv6 Networks (DNAv6)"  [DNAv6] IP configuration is



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   validated using reachability detection and Router
   Solicitation/Advertisement.

   The routing sub-layer may utilize link indications in order to enable
   more rapid response to changes in link state and effective
   throughput.

   In "Analysis of link failures in an IP backbone" [Iannaccone] the
   authors investigate link failures in Sprint's IP backbone.  They
   identify the causes of convergence delay, including delays in
   detection of whether an interface is down or up.  While it is fastest
   for a router to utilize link indications if available, there are
   situations in which it is necessary to depend on loss of routing
   packets to determine the state of the link.  Once the link state has
   been determined, a delay may occur within the routing protocol in
   order to dampen link flaps.  Finally, another delay may be introduced
   in propagating the link state change, in order to rate limit link
   state advertisements, and guard against instability.

   "Bidirectional Forwarding Detection" [BFD] notes that link layers may
   provide only limited failure indications, and that relatively slow
   "Hello" mechanisms are used in routing protocols to detect failures
   when no link layer indications are available.  This results in
   failure detection times of the order of a second, which is too long
   for some applications.  The authors describe a mechanism that can be
   used for liveness detection over any media, enabling rapid detection
   of failures in the path between adjacent forwarding engines.  A path
   is declared operational when bi-directional reachability has been
   confirmed.

   Link rate is often used in computing routing metrics.  For wired
   networks, the rate is typically constant.  However for wireless
   networks, the negotiated rate and frame loss may change with link
   conditions so that effective throughput may vary on a packet by
   packet basis.  In such situations, routing metrics may also exhibit
   rapid variation.

   Routing metrics incorporating link indications such as Link Up/Down
   and effective throughput enable routers to take link conditions into
   account for the purposes of route selection.  If a link experiences
   decreased rate or high frame loss, the route metric will increase for
   the prefixes that it serves, encouraging use of alternate paths if
   available.  When the link condition improves, the route metric will
   decrease, encouraging use of the link.

   Within Weak End System implementations, changes in routing metrics
   and link state may result in a change in the outgoing interface for
   one or more transport connections.  Routes may also be added or



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   withdrawn, resulting in loss or gain of peer connectivity.  However,
   link indications such as changes in link rate or frame loss do not
   necessarily result in a change of outgoing interface.

   The Internet layer may also become aware of path changes by other
   mechanisms, such as by running a routing protocol, receipt of a
   Router Advertisement, dead gateway detection [RFC816] or network
   unreachability detection [RFC2461], ICMP re-directs, or a change in
   the IP TTL of received packets.  A change in the outgoing interface
   may in turn influence the mobility sub-layer, causing a change in the
   incoming interface.  The mobility sub-layer may also become aware of
   a change in the incoming interface of a peer (via receipt of a Mobile
   IP binding update).

1.4.2.  Transport Layer

   The Transport layer receives processes link indications differently
   for the purposes of transport parameter estimation and connection
   management.

   For the purposes of parameter estimation, the Transport layer is
   primarily interested in path properties that impact performance, and
   where link indications may be determined to be relevant to path
   properties they may be utilized directly.  Link indications such
   "Link Up"/"Link Down" or changes in rate, delay and frame loss may
   prove relevant.  This will not always be the case, however; where the
   bottleneck bandwidth is already much lower than the link rate, an
   increase in link rate may not materially affect path properties.  As
   described in Appendix A.3, the algorithms for utilizing link layer
   indications to improve transport parameter estimates are still under
   development.

   For the purposes of transport parameter estimation, strict layering
   considerations do not apply since they may hide useful information.
   For example, the Transport layer may utilize the receipt of a "Link
   Down" indication followed by a subsequent "Link Up" indication to
   infer the possibility of non-congestive packet loss during the period
   between the indications, even if the IP configuration does not change
   as a result, so that no Internet layer indication would be sent.

   For the purposes of parameter estimation, the Transport layer may
   also wish to use Internet layer indications.  For example, path
   change indications can be used as a signal to reset parameter
   estimates.  Changes in the routing table may also be useful; loss of
   segments sent to a destination with no prefix in the routing table
   may be assumed to be due to causes other than congestion, regardless
   of the reason for the removal (either because local link conditions
   caused it to be removed or because the route was withdrawn by a



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   remote gateway).

   For the purposes of connection management, layering considerations
   are important; the Transport layer typically only utilizes Internet
   layer indications such as changes in the incoming/outgoing interface
   and IP configuration changes.

   Just as a "Link Up" event may not result in a configuration change,
   and a configuration change may not result in connection teardown, the
   Transport layer does not tear down connections on receipt of a "Link
   Down" indication, regardless of the cause.  Where the "Link Down"
   indication results from frame loss rather than an explicit exchange,
   the indication may be transient, to be soon followed by a "Link Up"
   indication.

   Even where the "Link Down" indication results from an explicit
   exchange such as receipt of a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) Link
   Control Protocol (LCP)-Terminate or an IEEE 802.11 Disassociate or
   Deauthenticate frame, an alternative point of attachment may be
   available, allowing connectivity to be quickly restored.  As a
   result, robustness is best achieved by allowing connections to remain
   up until an endpoint address changes, or the connection is torn down
   due to lack of response to repeated retransmission attempts.

   For the purposes of connection management, the Transport layer is
   cautious with the use of Internet layer indications as well.  Changes
   in the routing table are not relevant for the purposes of connection
   management, since it is desirable for connections to remain up during
   transitory routing flaps.  The Transport layer may utilize a change
   in incoming/outgoing change as a path change indication, or tear down
   transport connections due to invalidation of a connection endpoint IP
   address.  Where the connection has been established based on the home
   address, a change in the care-of-address need not result in
   connection teardown, since the configuration change is masked by the
   mobility functionality within the Internet layer, and is therefore
   transparent to the Transport layer.

   "Requirements for Internet Hosts - Communication Layers" [RFC1122]
   [RFC1122] Section 2.4 requires Destination Unreachable, Source
   Quench, Echo Reply, Timestamp Reply and Time Exceeded ICMP messages
   to be passed up to the Transport layer.  [RFC1122] 4.2.3.9 requires
   TCP to react to an ICMP Source Quench by slowing transmission.

   [RFC1122] Section 4.2.3.9 distinguishes between ICMP messages
   indicating soft error conditions, which must not cause TCP to abort a
   connection, and hard error conditions, which should cause an abort.
   ICMP messages indicating soft error conditions include Destination
   Unreachable codes 0 (Net), 1 (Host) and 5 (Source Route Failed),



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   which may result from routing transients;  Time Exceeded; and
   Parameter Problem.  ICMP messages indicating hard error conditions
   include Destination Unreachable codes 2 (Protocol Unreachable), 3
   (Port Unreachable), and 4 (Fragmentation Needed and Don't Fragment
   was Set).  Since hosts implementing "Path MTU Discovery" [RFC1191]
   use Destination Unreachable code 4, they do not treat this as a hard
   error condition.

   However, "Fault Isolation and Recovery" [RFC816], Section 6 states:

      It is not obvious, when error messages such as ICMP Destination
      Unreachable arrive, whether TCP should abandon the connection.
      The reason that error messages are difficult to interpret is that,
      as discussed above, after a failure of a gateway or network, there
      is a transient period during which the gateways may have incorrect
      information, so that irrelevant or incorrect error messages may
      sometimes return.  An isolated ICMP Destination Unreachable may
      arrive at a host, for example, if a packet is sent during the
      period when the gateways are trying to find a new route.  To
      abandon a TCP connection based on such a message arriving would be
      to ignore the valuable feature of the Internet that for many
      internal failures it reconstructs its function without any
      disruption of the end points.

   "Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers" [RFC1812] Section 4.3.3.3
   states that "Research seems to suggest that Source Quench consumes
   network bandwidth but is an ineffective (and unfair) antidote to
   congestion", indicating that routers should not originate them.  In
   general, since the Transport layer is able to determine an
   appropriate (and conservative) response to congestion based on packet
   loss or explicit congestion notification, ICMP "source quench"
   indications are not needed, and the sending of additional "source
   quench" packets during periods of congestion may be detrimental.

   "ICMP attacks against TCP" [Gont] argues that accepting ICMP messages
   based on a correct four-tuple without additional security checks is
   ill-advised.  For example, an attacker forging an ICMP hard error
   message can cause one or more transport connections to abort.  The
   authors discuss a number of precautions, including mechanisms for
   validating ICMP messages and ignoring or delaying response to hard
   error messages under various conditions.  They also recommend that
   hosts ignore ICMP Source Quench messages.

1.4.3.  Application Layer

   The Transport layer provides indications to the Application layer by
   propagating Internet layer indications (such as IP address
   configuration and changes), as well as providing its own indications,



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   such as connection teardown.  The Transport layer may also provide
   indications to the link layer.  For example, where the link layer
   retransmission timeout is significantly less than the path round-trip
   timeout, the Transport layer may wish to control the maximum number
   of times that a link layer frame may be retransmitted, so that the
   link layer does not continue to retransmit after a Transport layer
   timeout.

   In IEEE 802.11, this can be achieved by adjusting the Management
   Information Base (MIB) variables dot11ShortRetryLimit (default: 7)
   and dot11LongRetryLimit (default: 4), which control the maximum
   number of retries for frames shorter and longer in length than
   dot11RTSThreshold, respectively.  However, since these variables
   control link behavior as a whole they cannot be used to separately
   adjust behavior on a per-transport connection basis.  In situations
   where the link layer retransmission timeout is of the same order as
   the path round trip timeout, link layer control may not be possible
   at all.

   Since applications can typically obtain the information they need
   more reliably from the Internet and Transport layers, they will
   typically not need to utilize link indications.  A "Link Up"
   indication implies that the link is capable of communicating IP
   packets, but does not indicate that it has been configured;
   applications should use an Internet layer "IP Address Configured"
   event instead.  "Link Down" indications are typically not useful to
   applications, since they can be rapidly followed by a "Link Up"
   indication; applications should respond to Transport layer teardown
   indications instead.  Similarly, changes in the link rate may not be
   relevant to applications if the bottleneck bandwidth does not change;
   the transport layer is best equipped to determine this.  As a result,
   Figure 1 does not indicate link indications being provided directly
   to applications.


















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                 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   Application   |                                               |
   Layer         |                                               |
                 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                                               ^     ^   ^
                                               !     !   !
                 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-!-+-+-!-+-!-+-+-+-+
                 |                             !     !   !       |
                 |                             !     ^   ^       |
                 |     Connection Management   !     ! Teardown  |
   Transport     |                             !     !           |
   Layer         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-!-+-+-!-+-+-+-+-+-+
                 |                             ^     !           |
                 |                           Rate    !           |
                 |                                   !           |
                 |  Transport Parameter Estimation   !           |
                 |(MTU, RTT, RTO, cwnd, bw, ssthresh)!           |
                 +-!-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-!-+-+-+-+-+-+
                   ^   ^           ^       ^         !
                   !   !           !       !         !
                 +-!-+-!-+-+-+-+-+-!-+-+-+-!-+-+-+-+-!-+-+-+-+-+-+
                 | !   ! Incoming  !MIP    !         !           |
                 | !   ! Interface !BU     !         !           |
                 | !   ! Change    !Receipt!         !           |
                 | !   ^           ^       ^         ^           |
   Internet      | !   ! Mobility  !       !         !           |
   Layer         +-!-+-!-+-+-+-+-+-!-+-+-+-!-+-+-+-+-!-+-+-+-+-+-+
                 | !   ! Outgoing  ! Path  !         !           |
                 | !   ! Interface ! Change!         !           |
                 | !   ^ Change    ^       ^         ^           |
                 | !                       !         !           |
                 | ^     Routing           !         !           |
                 +-!-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-!-+-+-+-+-!-+-+-+-+-+-+
                 | !                       !         ! IP        |
                 | !                       !         ! Address   |
                 | !   IP Configuration    ^         ^ Config/   |
                 | !                       !           Changes   |
                 +-!-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-!-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                   !                       !
                   !                       !
                 +-!-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-!-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                 | !                       !                     |
   Link          | ^                       ^                     |
   Layer         | Rate, FER,            Link                    |
                 | Delay                 Up/Down                 |
                 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                      Figure 1.  Layered Indication Model



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2.  Architectural Considerations

   The complexity of real-world link behavior poses a challenge to the
   integration of link indications within the Internet architecture.
   While the literature provides persuasive evidence of the utility of
   link indications, difficulties can arise in making effective use of
   them.  To avoid these issues, the following architectural principles
   are suggested and discussed in more detail in the sections that
   follow:

[1]  Proposals should avoid use of simplified link models in
     circumstances where they do not apply (Section 2.1).

[2]  Link indications should be clearly defined, so that it is
     understood when they are generated on different link layers
     (Section 2.2).

[3]  Proposals must demonstrate robustness against spurious link
     indications (Section 2.3).

[4]  Upper layers should utilize a timely recovery step so as to limit
     the potential damage from link indications determined to be invalid
     after they have been acted on (Section 2.3.2).

[5]  Proposals must demonstrate that effective congestion control is
     maintained (Section 2.4).

[6]  Proposals must demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed
     optimizations (Section 2.5).

[7]  Link indications should not be required by upper layers, in order
     to maintain link independence (Section 2.6).

[8]  Proposals should avoid race conditions, which can occur where link
     indications are utilized directly by multiple layers of the stack
     (Section 2.7).

[9]  Proposals should avoid inconsistencies between link and routing
     layer metrics (Section 2.7.3).

[10] Overhead reduction schemes must avoid compromising interoperability
     and introducing link layer dependencies into the  Internet and
     Transport layers (Section 2.8).

[11] Proposals for transport of link indications beyond the local host
     need to carefully consider the layering, security and transport
     implications (Section 2.9).




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2.1.  Model Validation

   Proposals should avoid use of link models in circumstances where they
   do not apply.

   In "The mistaken axioms of wireless-network research" [Kotz], the
   authors conclude that mistaken assumptions relating to link behavior
   may lead to the design of network protocols that may not work in
   practice.  For example, the authors note that the three-dimensional
   nature of wireless propagation can result in large signal strength
   changes over short distances.  This can result in rapid changes in
   link indications such as rate, frame loss, and signal strength.

   In "Modeling Wireless Links for Transport Protocols" [GurtovFloyd],
   the authors provide examples of modeling mistakes and examples of how
   to improve modeling of link characteristics.  To accompany the paper
   the authors provide simulation scenarios in ns-2.

   In order to avoid the pitfalls described in [Kotz] [GurtovFloyd],
   documents that describe capabilities that are dependent on link
   indications should explicitly articulate the assumptions of the link
   model and describe the circumstances in which they apply.

   Generic "trigger" models may include implicit assumptions which may
   prove invalid in outdoor or mesh wireless LAN deployments.  For
   example, two-state Markov models assume that the link is either in a
   state experiencing low frame loss ("up") or in a state where few
   frames are successfully delivered ("down").  In these models,
   symmetry is also typically assumed, so that the link is either "up"
   in both directions or "down" in both directions.  In situations where
   intermediate loss rates are experienced, these assumptions may be
   invalid.

   As noted in "Hybrid Rate Control for IEEE 802.11" [Haratcherev]
   signal strength data is noisy and sometimes inconsistent, so that it
   needs to be filtered in order to avoid erratic results.  Given this,
   link indications based on raw signal strength data may be unreliable.
   In order to avoid problems, it is best to combine signal strength
   data with other techniques.  For example, in developing a "Going
   Down" indication for use with [IEEE-802.21] it would be advisable to
   validate filtered signal strength measurements with other indications
   of link loss such as lack of beacon reception.

2.2.  Clear Definitions

   Link indications should be clearly defined, so that it is understood
   when they are generated on different link layers.  For example,
   considerable work has been required in order to come up with the



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   definitions of "Link Up" and "Link Down", and to define when these
   indications are sent on various link layers.

   Link indication definitions should heed the following advice:

[1]  Do not assume symmetric link performance or frame loss that is
     either low ("up") or high ("down").

     In wired networks, links in the "up" state typically experience low
     frame loss in both directions and are ready to send and receive
     data frames; links in the "down" state are unsuitable for sending
     and receiving data frames in either direction.  Therefore, a link
     providing a "Link Up" indication will typically experience low
     frame loss in both directions, and high frame loss in any direction
     can only be experienced after a link provides a "Link Down"
     indication.  However, these assumptions may not hold true for
     wireless LAN networks.  Asymmetry is typically less of a problem
     for cellular networks where propagation occurs over longer
     distances, multipath effects may be less severe and the base
     station can transmit at much higher power than mobile stations
     while utilizing a more sensitive antenna.

     Specifications utilizing a "Link Up" indication should not assume
     that receipt of this indication means that the link is experiencing
     symmetric link conditions or low frame loss in either direction.
     In general, a "Link Up" event should not be sent due to transient
     changes in link conditions, but only due to a change in link layer
     state.  It is best to assume that a "Link Up" event may not be sent
     in a timely way.  Large handoff latencies can result in a delay in
     the generation of a "Link Up" event as movement to an alternative
     point of attachment is delayed.

[2]  Consider the sensitivity of link indications to transient link
     conditions.  Due to effects common such as multi-path interference,
     signal strength and signal/noise ratio (SNR) may vary rapidly over
     a short distance, causing erratic behavior of link indications
     based on unfiltered measurements.  As noted in [Haratcherev],
     signal strength may prove most useful when utilized in combination
     with other measurements, such as frame loss.

[3]  Where possible, design link indications with built-in damping.  By
     design, the "Link Up" and "Link Down" events relate to changes in
     the state of the link layer that make it able and unable to
     communicate IP packets.  These changes are either generated by the
     link layer state machine based on link layer exchanges (e.g.
     completion of the IEEE 802.11i four-way handshake for "Link Up", or
     receipt of a PPP LCP-Terminate for "Link Down") or by protracted
     frame loss, so that the link layer concludes that the link is no



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     longer usable.  As a result, these link indications are typically
     less sensitive to changes in transient link conditions.

[4]  Do not assume that a "Link Down" event will be sent at all, or that
     if sent, that it will received in a timely way.  A good link layer
     implementation will both rapidly detect connectivity failure (such
     as by tracking missing Beacons) while sending a "Link Down" event
     only when it concludes the link is unusable, not due to transient
     frame loss.

     However, existing wireless LAN implementations often do not do a
     good job of detecting link failure.  During a lengthy detection
     phase, a "Link Down" event is not sent by the link layer, yet IP
     packets cannot be transmitted or received on the link.  Initiation
     of a scan may be delayed so that the station cannot find another
     point of attachment.  This can result in inappropriate backoff of
     retransmission timers within the transport layer, among other
     problems.  This is not as much of a problem for cellular networks
     which utilize transmit power adjustment.

2.3.  Robustness

   Link indication proposals must demonstrate robustness against
   misleading indications.  Elements to consider include:

        a.  Implementation Variation
        b.  Recovery from invalid indications
        c.  Damping and hysteresis

2.3.1.  Implementation Variation

   Variations in link layer implementations may have a substantial
   impact on the behavior of link indications.  These variations need to
   be taken into account in evaluating the performance of proposals.
   For example, radio propagation and implementation differences can
   impact the reliability of Link indications.

   In "Link-level Measurements from an 802.11b Mesh Network" [Aguayo]
   analyzes the causes of frame loss in a 38-node urban multi-hop IEEE
   802.11 ad-hoc network.  In most cases,  links that are very bad in
   one direction tend to be bad in both directions, and links that are
   very good in one direction tend to be good in both directions.
   However, 30 percent of links exhibited loss rates differing
   substantially in each direction.

   As described in [Aguayo], wireless LAN links often exhibit loss rates
   intermediate between "up" (low loss) and "down" (high loss) states,
   as well as substantial asymmetry.  As a result, receipt of a "Link



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   Up" indication may not necessarily indicate bi-directional
   reachability, since it could have been generated after exchange of
   small frames at low rates, which might not imply bi-directional
   connectivity for large frames exchanged at higher rates.

   Where multi-path interference or hidden nodes are encountered, signal
   strength may vary widely over a short distance.  Several techniques
   may be used to reduce potential disruptions.  Multiple antennas may
   be used to reduce multi-path effects; rate adaptation can be used to
   determine if a lower rate will be more satisfactory;  transmit power
   adjustment can be used to improve signal quality and reduce
   interference; RTS/CTS signaling can be used to address hidden node
   problems.  However, these techniques may not be completely effective.
   As a result, periods of high frame loss may be encountered, causing
   the link to cycle between "up" and "down" states.

   To improve robustness against spurious link indications, it is
   recommended that upper layers treat the indication as a "hint"
   (advisory in nature), rather than a "trigger" forcing a given action.
   Upper layers may then attempt to validate the hint.

   In [RFC4436] "Link Up" indications are rate limited and IP
   configuration is confirmed using bi-directional reachability tests
   carried out coincident with a request for configuration via DHCP.  As
   a result, bi-directional reachability is confirmed prior to
   activation of an IP configuration.  However, where a link exhibits an
   intermediate loss rate, demonstration of bi-directional reachability
   may not necessarily indicate that the link is suitable for carrying
   IP data packets.

   Another example of validation occurs in IPv4 Link-Local address
   configuration [RFC3927].  Prior to configuration of an IPv4 Link-
   Local address, it is necessary to run a claim and defend protocol.
   Since a host needs to be present to defend its address against
   another claimant, and address conflicts are relatively likely, a host
   returning from sleep mode or receiving a "Link Up" indication could
   encounter an address conflict were it to utilize a formerly
   configured IPv4 Link-Local address without rerunning claim and
   defend.

2.3.2.  Recovery From Invalid Indications

   In some situations, improper use of link indications can result in
   operational malfunctions.  It is recommended that upper layers
   utilize a timely recovery step so as to limit the potential damage
   from link indications determined to be invalid after they have been
   acted on.




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   In [RFC4436] reachability tests are carried out coincident with a
   request for configuration via DHCP.  Therefore if the bi-directional
   reachability test times out, the host can still obtain an IP
   configuration via DHCP, and if that fails, the host can still
   continue to use an existing valid address if it has one.

   Where a proposal involves recovery at the transport layer, the
   recovered transport parameters (such as the MTU, RTT, RTO, congestion
   window, etc.) should be demonstrated to remain valid.  Congestion
   window validation is discussed in [RFC2861].

   Where timely recovery is not supported, unexpected consequences may
   result.  As described in [RFC3927], early IPv4 Link-Local
   implementations would wait five minutes before attempting to obtain a
   routable address after assigning an IPv4 Link-Local address.  In one
   implementation, it was observed that where mobile hosts changed their
   point of attachment more frequently than every five minutes, they
   would never obtain a routable address.

   The problem was caused by an invalid link indication (signaling of
   "Link Up" prior to completion of link layer authentication),
   resulting in an initial failure to obtain a routable address using
   DHCP.  As a result, [RFC3927] recommends against modification of the
   maximum retransmission timeout (64 seconds) provided in [RFC2131].

2.3.3.  Damping and Hysteresis

   Damping and hysteresis can be utilized to limit damage from unstable
   link indications.  This may include damping unstable indications or
   placing constraints on the frequency of link indication-induced
   actions within a time period.

   While [Aguayo] found that frame loss was relatively stable for
   stationary stations, obstacles to radio propagation and multi-path
   interference can result in rapid changes in signal strength for a
   mobile station.  As a result, it is possible for mobile stations to
   encounter rapid changes in link performance, including changes in the
   negotiated rate, frame loss and even "Link Up"/"Link Down"
   indications.

   Where link-aware routing metrics are implemented, this can result in
   rapid metric changes, potentially resulting in frequent changes in
   the outgoing interface for Weak End System implementations.  As a
   result, it may be necessary to introduce route flap dampening.

   However, the benefits of damping need to be weighed against the
   additional latency that can be introduced.  For example, in order to
   filter out spurious "Link Down" indications, these indications may be



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   delayed until it can be determined that a "Link Up" indication will
   not follow shortly thereafter.  However, in situations where multiple
   Beacons are missed such a delay may not be needed, since there is no
   evidence of a suitable point of attachment in the vicinity.

   In some cases it is desirable to ignore link indications entirely.
   Since it is possible for a host to transition from an ad-hoc network
   to a network with centralized address management, a host receiving a
   "Link Up" indication cannot necessarily conclude that it is
   appropriate to configure a IPv4 Link-Local address prior to
   determining whether a DHCP server is available [RFC3927] or an
   operable configuration is valid [RFC4436].

   As noted in Section 1.4, the Transport layer does not utilize "Link
   Up" and "Link Down" indications for the purposes of connection
   management.

2.4.  Congestion Control

   Link indication proposals must demonstrate that effective congestion
   control is maintained [RFC2914].  One or more of the following
   techniques may be utilized:

[a]   Rate limiting.  Packets generated based on receipt of link
      indications can be rate limited (e.g. a limit of one packet per
      end-to-end path RTO).

[b]   Utilization of upper layer indications.  Applications should
      depend on upper layer indications such as IP address
      configuration/change notification, rather than utilizing link
      indications such as "Link Up".

[c]   Keepalives.  In order to improve robustness against spurious link
      indications, an application keepalive or Transport layer
      indication (such as connection teardown) can be used instead of
      consuming "Link Down" indications.

[d]   Conservation of resources.  Proposals must demonstrate that they
      are not vulnerable to congestive collapse.

   Note that "conservation of packets" may not be sufficient to avoid
   congestive collapse in the link layer.  Where rate adjustment is
   based on frame loss, it is necessary to demonstrative stability in
   the face of congestion.  Implementations that rapidly decrease the
   negotiated rate in response to frame loss can cause congestive
   collapse in the link layer, even where exponential backoff is
   implemented.  For example, an implementation that decreases rate by a
   factor of two while backing off the retransmission timer by a factor



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   of two has not reduced the link utilization.  While such an
   implementation might demonstrate "conservation of packets" it does
   not conserve transmission resources.

   Consider a proposal where a "Link Up" indication is used by a host to
   trigger retransmission of the last previously sent packet, in order
   to enable ACK reception prior to expiration of the host's
   retransmission timer.  On a rapidly moving mobile node where "Link
   Up" indications follow in rapid succession,  this could result in a
   burst of retransmitted packets, violating the principle of
   "conservation of packets".

   At the Application layer, link indications have been utilized by
   applications such as Presence [RFC2778] in order to optimize
   registration and user interface update operations.  For example,
   implementations may attempt presence registration on receipt of a
   "Link Up" indication, and presence de-registration by a surrogate
   receiving a "Link Down" indication.  Presence implementations using
   "Link Up"/"Link Down" indications this way violate the principle of
   "conservation of packets" since link indications can be generated on
   a time scale less than the end-to-end path RTO.  The problem is
   magnified since for each presence update, notifications can be
   delivered to many watchers.  In addition, use of a "Link Up"
   indication in this manner is unwise since the interface may not yet
   even have an operable Internet layer configuration.  Instead, an "IP
   address configured" indication may be utilized.

2.5.  Effectiveness

   Proposals must demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed
   optimizations.  Since optimizations typically carry a burden of
   increased complexity, substantial performance improvement is required
   in order to make a compelling case.

   In the face of unreliable link indications, effectiveness may
   strongly depend on the penalty for false positives and false
   negatives.  In the case of DNAv4 [RFC4436], the benefits of
   successful optimization are modest, but the penalty for being unable
   to confirm an operable configuration is a lengthy timeout.  As a
   result,  the recommended strategy is to test multiple potential
   configurations in parallel in addition to attempting configuration
   via DHCP.  This virtually guarantees that DNAv4 will always result in
   performance equal to or better than use of DHCP alone.

2.6.  Interoperability

   While link indications can be utilized where available, they should
   not be required by upper layers, in order to maintain link layer



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   independence.  For example, if link layer prefix hints are provided,
   hosts not understanding those hints must still be able to obtain an
   IP address.

   Where link indications are proposed to optimize Internet layer
   configuration, proposals must demonstrate that they do not compromise
   robustness by interfering with address assignment or routing protocol
   behavior, making address collisions more likely, or compromising
   Duplicate Address Detection (DAD).

   To avoid compromising interoperability in the pursuit of performance
   optimization, proposals must demonstrate that interoperability
   remains possible (potentially with degraded performance) even if one
   or more participants do not implement the proposal.

2.7.  Race Conditions

   Link indication proposals should avoid race conditions, which can
   occur where link indications are utilized directly by multiple layers
   of the stack.

   Link indications are useful for optimization of Internet Protocol
   layer addressing and configuration as well as routing.  Although "The
   BU-trigger method for improving TCP performance over Mobile IPv6"
   [Kim] describes situations in which link indications are first
   processed by the Internet Protocol layer (e.g. MIPv6) before being
   utilized by the Transport layer, for the purposes of parameter
   estimation, it may be desirable for the Transport layer to utilize
   link indications directly.  Similarly, as noted in "Application-
   oriented Link Adaptation of IEEE 802.11" [Haratcherev2] there are
   situations in which applications may also wish to consume link
   indications.

   In situations where the Weak End System model is implemented, a
   change of outgoing interface may occur at the same time the Transport
   layer is modifying transport parameters based on other link
   indications.  As a result, transport behavior may differ depending on
   the order in which the link indications are processed.

   Where a multi-homed host experiences increasing frame loss or
   decreased rate on one of its interfaces, a routing metric taking
   these effects into account will increase, potentially causing a
   change in the outgoing interface for one or more transport
   connections.  This may trigger Mobile IP signaling so as to cause a
   change in the incoming path as well.  As a result, the transport
   parameters for the original interface (MTU, congestion state) may no
   longer be valid for the new outgoing and incoming paths.




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   To avoid race conditions, the following measures are recommended:

        a.  Path change re-estimation
        b.  Layering
        c.  Metric consistency

2.7.1.  Path Change Re-estimation

   When the Internet layer detects a path change, such as a change in
   the outgoing or incoming interface of the host or the incoming
   interface of a peer, or perhaps even a substantial change in the TTL
   of received IP packets, it may be worth considering whether to reset
   transport parameters (RTT, RTO, cwnd, MTU) to their initial values so
   as to allow them to be re-estimated.  This ensures that estimates
   based on the former path do not persist after they have become
   invalid.  Appendix A.3 summarizes the research on this topic.

2.7.2.  Layering

   Another technique to avoid race conditions is to rely on layering to
   damp transient link indications and provide greater link layer
   independence.

   The Internet layer is responsible for routing as well as IP
   configuration, and mobility, providing higher layers with an
   abstraction that is independent of link layer technologies.  Since
   one of the major objectives of the Internet layer is maintaining link
   layer independence, upper layers relying on Internet layer
   indications rather than consuming link indications directly can avoid
   link layer dependencies.

   In general, it is advisable for applications to utilize indications
   from the Internet or Transport layers rather than consuming link
   indications directly.

2.7.3.  Metric Consistency

   Proposals should avoid inconsistencies between link and routing layer
   metrics.  Without careful design, potential differences between link
   indications used in routing and those used in roaming and/or link
   enablement can result in instability, particularly in multi-homed
   hosts.

   Once a link is in the "up" state, its effectiveness in transmission
   of data packets can be used to determine an appropriate routing
   metric.  In situations where the transmission time represents a large
   portion of the total transit time, minimizing total transmission time
   is equivalent to maximizing effective throughput.  "A High-Throughput



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   Path Metric for Multi-Hop Wireless Routing" [ETX] describes a
   proposed routing metric based on the Expected Transmission Count
   (ETX).  The authors demonstrate that ETX, based on link layer frame
   loss rates (prior to retransmission), enables the selection of routes
   maximizing effective throughput.  Where the negotiated rate is
   constant, the expected transmission time is proportional to ETX, so
   that minimizing ETX also minimizes expected transmission time.

   However, where the negotiated rate may vary, ETX may not represent a
   good estimate of the estimated transmission time.  In "Routing in
   multi-radio, multi-hop wireless mesh networks" [ETX-Rate] the authors
   define a new metric called Expected Transmission Time (ETT).  This is
   described as a "bandwidth adjusted ETX" since ETT = ETX * S/B where S
   is the size of the probe packet and B is the bandwidth of the link as
   measured by packet pair [Morgan].  However, ETT assumed that the loss
   fraction of small probe frames sent at 1 Mbps data rate is indicative
   of the loss fraction of larger data frames at higher rates, which
   tends to under-estimate the ETT at higher rates, where frame loss
   typically increases.  In "A Radio Aware Routing Protocol for Wireless
   Mesh Networks" [ETX-Radio] the authors refine the ETT metric further
   by estimating the loss fraction as a function of data rate.

   However, prior to sending data packets over the link, the appropriate
   routing metric may not be easily be predicted.  As noted in
   [Shortest], a link that can successfully transmit the short frames
   utilized for control, management or routing may not necessarily be
   able to reliably transport larger data packets.  The rate adaptation
   techniques utilized in [Haratcherev] require data to be accumulated
   on signal strength and rates based on successful and unsuccessful
   transmissions.  However, this data will not available before a link
   is used for the first time.

   Therefore it may be necessary to utilize alternative metrics (such as
   signal strength or access point load) in order to assist in
   attachment/handoff decisions.  However, unless the new interface is
   the preferred route for one or more destination prefixes, a Weak End
   System implementation will not use the new interface for outgoing
   traffic.  Where "idle timeout" functionality is implemented, the
   unused interface will be brought down, only to be brought up again by
   the link enablement algorithm.

   Within the link layer, signal strength and frame loss may be used by
   a host to determine the optimum rate, as well as to determine when to
   select an alternative point of attachment.  In order to enable
   stations to roam prior to encountering packet loss, studies such as
    "An experimental study of IEEE 802.11b handover performance and its
   effect on voice traffic" [Vatn] have suggested using signal strength
   as a mechanism for more rapidly detecting loss of connectivity,



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   rather than frame loss, as suggested in "Techniques to Reduce IEEE
   802.11b MAC Layer Handover Time" [Velayos].

   [Aguayo] notes that signal strength and distance are not good
   predictors of frame loss or negotiated rate, due to the potential
   effects of multi-path interference.  As a result a link brought up
   due to good signal strength may subsequently exhibit significant
   frame loss, and a low negotiated rate.  Similarly, an AP
   demonstrating low utilization may not necessarily be the best choice,
   since utilization may be low due to hardware or software problems.
   "OSPF Optimized Multipath (OSPF-OMP)" [Villamizar] notes that link
   utilization-based routing metrics have a history of instability, so
   that they are rarely deployed.

2.8.  Layer compression

   In many situations, the exchanges required for a host to complete a
   handoff and reestablish connectivity are considerable, leading to
   proposals to combine exchanges occurring within multiple layers in
   order to reduce overhead.  While overhead reduction is a laudable
   goal, proposals need to avoid compromising interoperability and
   introducing link layer dependencies into the  Internet and Transport
   layers.

   Exchanges required for handoff and connectivity reestablishment may
   include link layer scanning, authentication and association
   establishment; Internet layer configuration, routing and mobility
   exchanges;  Transport layer retransmission and recovery; security
   association re-establishment;  application protocol re-authentication
   and re-registration exchanges, etc.

   Several proposals involve combining exchanges within the link layer.
   For example, in [EAPIKEv2], a link layer EAP exchange may be used for
   the purpose of IP address assignment, potentially bypassing Internet
   layer configuration.  Within [PEAP], it is proposed that a link layer
   EAP exchange be used for the purpose of carrying Mobile IPv6 Binding
   Updates.  [MIPEAP] proposes that EAP exchanges be used for
   configuration of Mobile IPv6.  Where link, Internet or Transport
   layer mechanisms are combined, hosts need to maintain backward
   compatibility to permit operation on networks where compression
   schemes are not available.

   Layer compression schemes may also negatively impact robustness.  For
   example, in order to optimize IP address assignment, it has been
   proposed that prefixes be advertised at the link layer, such as
   within the 802.11 Beacon and Probe Response frames.  However,
   [IEEE-802.1X] enables the Virtual LAN Identifier (VLANID) to be
   assigned dynamically, so that prefix(es) advertised within the Beacon



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   and/or Probe Response may not correspond to the prefix(es) configured
   by the Internet layer after the host completes link layer
   authentication.  Were the host to handle IP configuration at the link
   layer rather than within the Internet layer, the host might be unable
   to communicate due to assignment of the wrong IP address.

2.9.  Transport of Link Indications

   Proposals for the transport of link indications need to carefully
   consider the layering, security and transport implications.

   As noted earlier, the transport layer may take the state of the local
   routing table into account in improving the quality of transport
   parameter estimates.  For example, by utilizing the local routing
   table, the Transport layer can determine that segment loss was due to
   loss of a route, not congestion.  While this enables transported link
   indications that affect the local routing table to improve the
   quality of transport parameter estimates, security and
   interoperability considerations relating to routing protocols still
   apply.

   Proposals involving transport of link indications need to demonstrate
   the following:

[a]  Superiority to implicit signals.  In general, implicit signals are
     preferred to explicit transport of link indications since they do
     not require participation in the routing mesh, add no new packets
     in times of network distress, operate more reliably in the presence
     of middle boxes such as NA(P)Ts, are more likely to be backward
     compatible, and are less likely to result in security
     vulnerabilities.  As a result, explicit signaling proposals must
     prove that implicit signals are inadequate.

[b]  Mitigation of security vulnerabilities.  Transported link
     indications that modify the local routing table represent routing
     protocols, and unless security is provided they will introduce the
     vulnerabilities associated with unsecured routing protocols.  For
     example, unless schemes such as SEND [RFC3971] are used, a host
     receiving a link indication from a router will not be able to
     authenticate the indication.  Where indications can be transported
     over the Internet, this allows an attack to be launched without
     requiring access to the link.

[c]  Validation of transported indications.  Even if a transported link
     indication can be authenticated, if the indication is sent by a
     host off the local link, it may not be clear that the sender is on
     the actual path in use, or which transport connection(s) the
     indication relates to.  Proposals need to describe how the



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     receiving host can validate the transported link indication.

[d]  Mapping of Identifiers.  When link indications are transported, it
     is generally for the purposes of saying something about Internet,
     Transport or Application layer operations at a remote element.
     These layers use different identifiers, and so it is necessary to
     match the link indication with relevant higher layer state.
     Therefore proposals need to demonstrate how the link indication can
     be mapped to the right higher layer state.   For example, if a
     presence server is receiving remote indications of "Link Up"/"Link
     Down" status for a particular MAC address, the presence server will
     need to associate that MAC address with the identity of the user
     (pres:user@example.com) to whom that link status change is
     relevant.

3.  Future Work

   Further work is needed in order to understand how link indications
   can be utilized by the Internet, Transport and Application layers.

   At the Link and Internet layers, more work is needed to reconcile
   handoff metrics (e.g. signal strength and link utilization) with
   routing metrics based on link indications (e.g. frame loss and
   negotiated rate).

   More work is also needed to understand the connection between link
   indications and routing metrics.  For example, the introduction of
   block ACKs (supported in [IEEE-802.11e]) complicates the relationship
   between effective throughput and frame loss, which may necessitate
   the development of revised routing metrics for ad-hoc networks.

   A better understanding of the relationship between rate negotiation
   algorithms and link-layer congestion control is required.  For
   example, it is possible that signal strength measurements may be
   useful in preventing rapid downward rate negotiation (and congestive
   collapse) in situations where frame loss is caused by congestion, not
   signal attenuation.

   At the Transport layer, more work is needed to determine the
   appropriate reaction to Internet layer indications such as routing
   table and path changes.  For example, it may make sense for the
   Transport layer to adjust transport parameter estimates in response
   to route loss, "Link Up"/"Link Down" indications and/or frame loss.
   This way transport parameters are not adjusted as though congestion
   were detected when loss is occurring due to other factors such as
   radio propagation effects or loss of a route (such as can occur on
   receipt of a "Link Down" indication).




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   More work is needed to determine how link layers may utilize
   information from the Transport layer.  For example, it is undesirable
   for a link layer to retransmit so aggressively that the link layer
   round-trip time approaches that of the end-to-end transport
   connection.  Instead, it may make sense to do downward rate
   adjustment so as to decrease frame loss and improve latency.  Also,
   in some cases, the transport layer may not require heroic efforts to
   avoid frame loss;  timely delivery may be preferred instead.

   More work is also needed on application layer uses of link
   indications such as rate and frame loss.

4.  Security Considerations

   Proposals for the utilization of link indications may introduce new
   security vulnerabilities.  These include:

     Spoofing
     Indication validation
     Denial of service

4.1.  Spoofing

   Where link layer control frames are unprotected, they may be spoofed
   by an attacker.  For example, PPP does not protect LCP frames such as
   LCP-Terminate, and [IEEE-802.11] does not protect management frames
   such as Associate/ Reassociate, Disassociate, or Deauthenticate.

   Spoofing of link layer control traffic may enable attackers to
   exploit weaknesses in link indication proposals.  For example,
   proposals that do not implement congestion avoidance can be enable
   attackers to mount denial of service attacks.

   However, even where the link layer incorporates security, attacks may
   still be possible if the security model is not consistent.  For
   example, wireless LANs implementing [IEEE-802.11i] do not enable
   stations to send or receive IP packets on the link until completion
   of an authenticated key exchange protocol known as the "4-way
   handshake".  As a result, a link implementing [IEEE-802.11i] cannot
   be considered usable at the Internet layer ("Link Up") until
   completion of the authenticated key exchange.

   However, while [IEEE-802.11i] requires sending of authenticated
   frames in order to obtain a "Link Up" indication, it does not support
   management frame authentication.  This weakness can be exploited by
   attackers to enable denial of service attacks on stations attached to
   distant Access Points (AP).




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   In [IEEE-802.11F], "Link Up" is considered to occur when an AP sends
   a Reassociation Response.  At that point, the AP sends a spoofed
   frame with the station's source address to a multicast address,
   thereby causing switches within the Distribution System (DS) to learn
   the station's MAC address.  While this enables forwarding of frames
   to the station at the new point of attachment, it also permits an
   attacker to disassociate a station located anywhere within the ESS,
   by sending an unauthenticated Reassociation Request frame.

4.2.  Indication Validation

   "Fault Isolation and Recovery" [RFC816] Section 3 describes how hosts
   interact with gateways for the purpose of fault recovery:

      Since the gateways always attempt to have a consistent and correct
      model of the internetwork topology, the host strategy for fault
      recovery is very simple.  Whenever the host feels that something
      is wrong, it asks the gateway for advice, and, assuming the advice
      is forthcoming, it believes the advice completely.  The advice
      will be wrong only during the transient period of negotiation,
      which immediately follows an outage, but will otherwise be
      reliably correct.

      In fact, it is never necessary for a host to explicitly ask a
      gateway for advice, because the gateway will provide it as
      appropriate.  When a host sends a datagram to some distant net,
      the host should be prepared to receive back either of two advisory
      messages which the gateway may send.  The ICMP "redirect" message
      indicates that the gateway to which the host sent the datagram is
      no longer the best gateway to reach the net in question.  The
      gateway will have forwarded the datagram, but the host should
      revise its routing table to have a different immediate address for
      this net.  The ICMP "destination unreachable" message indicates
      that as a result of an outage, it is currently impossible to reach
      the addressed net or host in any manner.  On receipt of this
      message, a host can either abandon the connection immediately
      without any further retransmission, or resend slowly to see if the
      fault is corrected in reasonable time.

   Given today's security environment, it is inadvisable for hosts to
   act on indications provided by gateways without careful
   consideration.  As noted in "ICMP attacks against TCP" [Gont],
   existing ICMP error messages may be exploited by attackers in order
   to abort connections in progress, prevent setup of new connections,
   or reduce throughput of ongoing connections.  Similar attacks may
   also be launched against the Internet layer via forging of ICMP
   redirects.




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   Proposals for transported link indications need to demonstrate that
   they will not add a new set of similar vulnerabilities.  Since
   transported link indications are typically unauthenticated,  hosts
   receiving them may not be able to determine whether they are
   authentic, or even plausible.

   Where link indication proposals may respond to unauthenticated link
   layer frames, they should be utilize upper layer security mechanisms,
   where possible.  For example, even though a host might utilize an
   unauthenticated link layer control frame to conclude that a link has
   become operational, it can use SEND [RFC3971] or authenticated DHCP
   [RFC3118] in order to obtain secure Internet layer configuration.

4.3.  Denial of Service

   Link indication proposals need to be particularly careful to avoid
   enabling denial of service attacks that can mounted at a distance.
   While wireless links are naturally vulnerable to interference, such
   attacks can only be perpetrated by an attacker capable of
   establishing radio contact with the target network.

   However, attacks that can be mounted from a distance, either by an
   attacker on another point of attachment within the same network, or
   by an off-link attacker, greatly expand the level of vulnerability.

   By enabling the transport of link indications, it is possible to
   transform an attack that might otherwise be restricted to attackers
   on the local link into one which can be executed across the Internet.

   Similarly, by integrating link indications with upper layers,
   proposals may enable a spoofed link layer frame to consume more
   resources on the host than might otherwise be the case.  As a result,
   while it is important for upper layers to validate link indications,
   they should not expend excessive resources in doing so.

   Congestion control is not only a transport issue, it is also a
   security issue. In order to not provide leverage to an attacker, a
   single forged link layer frame should not elicit a magnified response
   from one or more hosts, either by generating multiple responses or a
   single larger response.  For example, link indication proposals
   should not enable multiple hosts to respond to a frame with a
   multicast destination address.

5.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no actions for IANA.





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6.  References

6.1.  Informative References

[RFC816]       Clark, D., "Fault Isolation and Recovery", RFC 816, July
               1982.

[RFC1058]      Hedrick, C., "Routing Information Protocol", RFC 1058,
               June 1988.

[RFC1122]      Braden, R., "Requirements for Internet Hosts --
               Communication Layers", RFC 1122, October 1989.

[RFC1131]      Moy, J., "The OSPF Specification", RFC 1131, October
               1989.

[RFC1191]      Mogul, J. and S. Deering, "Path MTU discovery", RFC 1191,
               November 1990.

[RFC1256]      Deering, S., "ICMP Router Discovery Messages", RFC 1256,
               Xerox PARC, September 1991.

[RFC1307]      Young, J. and A. Nicholson, "Dynamically Switched Link
               Control Protocol", RFC 1307, March 1992.

[RFC1661]      Simpson, W., "The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)", STD 51,
               RFC 1661, July 1994.

[RFC1812]      Baker, F., "Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers", RFC
               1812, June 1995.

[RFC1918]      Rekhter, Y., Moskowitz, B., Karrenberg, D., de Groot, D.
               and E. Lear, "Address Allocation for Private Internets",
               RFC 1918, February 1996.

[RFC2119]      Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
               Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

[RFC2131]      Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol", RFC
               2131, March 1997.

[RFC2461]      Narten, T., Nordmark, E. and W. Simpson, "Neighbor
               Discovery for IP Version 6 (IPv6)", RFC 2461, December
               1998.

[RFC2778]      Day, M., Rosenberg, J. and H. Sugano, "A Model for
               Presence and Instant Messaging", RFC 2778, February 2000.




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[RFC2861]      Handley, M., Padhye, J. and S. Floyd, "TCP Congestion
               Window Validation", RFC 2861, June 2000.

[RFC2914]      Floyd, S., "Congestion Control Principles", RFC 2914, BCP
               41, September 2000.

[RFC3118]      Droms, R. and B. Arbaugh, "Authentication for DHCP
               Messages", RFC 3118, June 2001.

[RFC3315]      Droms, R., et al., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
               for IPv6 (DHCPv6)", RFC 3315, July 2003.

[RFC3428]      Campbell, B., Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Huitema, C.
               and D. Gurle, "Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
               Extension for Instant Messaging", RFC 3428, December
               2002.

[RFC3775]      Johnson, D., Perkins, C. and J. Arkko, "Mobility Support
               in IPv6", RFC 3775, June 2004.

[RFC3921]      Saint-Andre, P., "Extensible Messaging and Presence
               protocol (XMPP): Instant Messaging and Presence", RFC
               3921, October 2004.

[RFC3927]      Cheshire, S., Aboba, B. and E. Guttman, "Dynamic
               Configuration of Link-Local IPv4 Addresses", RFC 3927,
               May 2005.

[RFC3971]      Arkko, J., Kempf, J., Zill, B. and P. Nikander, "SEcure
               Neighbor Discovery (SEND)", RFC 3971, March 2005.

[RFC4340]      Kohler, E., Handley, M. and S. Floyd, "Datagram
               Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP)", RFC 4340, March
               2006.

[RFC4436]      Aboba, B., Carlson, J. and S. Cheshire, "Detecting
               Network Attachment in IPv4 (DNAv4)", RFC 4436, March
               2006.

[Alimian]      Alimian, A., "Roaming Interval Measurements",
               11-04-0378-00-roaming-intervals-measurements.ppt, IEEE
               802.11 submission (work in progress), March 2004.

[Aguayo]       Aguayo, D., Bicket, J., Biswas, S., Judd, G. and R.
               Morris, "Link-level Measurements from an 802.11b Mesh
               Network", SIGCOMM '04, September 2004, Portland, Oregon.





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[Bakshi]       Bakshi, B., Krishna, P., Vadiya, N. and D.Pradhan,
               "Improving Performance of TCP over Wireless Networks",
               Proceedings of the 1997 International Conference on
               Distributed Computer Systems, Baltimore, May 1997.

[BFD]          Katz, D. and D. Ward, "Bidirectional Forwarding
               Detection", draft-ietf-bfd-base-05.txt, Internet draft
               (work in progress), June 2006.

[Biaz]         Biaz, S. and N. Vaidya, "Discriminating Congestion Losses
               from Wireless Losses Using Interarrival Times at the
               Receiver", Proc. IEEE Symposium on Application-Specific
               Systems and Software Engineering and Technology,
               Richardson, TX, Mar 1999.

[Chandran]     Chandran, K., Raghunathan, S., Venkatesan, S. and R.
               Prakash, "A Feedback-Based Scheme for Improving TCP
               Performance in Ad-Hoc Wireless Networks", Proceedings of
               the 18th International Conference on Distributed
               Computing Systems (ICDCS), Amsterdam, May 1998.

[DNAv6]        Narayanan, S., "Detecting Network Attachment in IPv6
               (DNAv6)", draft-ietf-dna-protocol-03.txt, Internet draft
               (work in progress), October 2006.

[E2ELinkup]    Dawkins, S. and C. Williams, "End-to-end, Implicit 'Link-
               Up' Notification",  draft-dawkins-trigtran-linkup-01.txt,
               Internet draft (work in progress), October 2003.

[EAPIKEv2]     Tschofenig, H., Kroeselberg, D., Pashalidis, A., Ohba,
               Y., and F. Bersani, "EAP IKEv2 Method", draft-tschofenig-
               eap-ikev2-12.txt, Internet draft (work in progress),
               October 2006.

[Eckhardt]     Eckhardt, D. and P. Steenkiste, "Measurement and Analysis
               of the Error Characteristics of an In-Building Wireless
               Network", SIGCOMM '96, August 1996, Stanford, CA.

[Eddy]         Eddy, W. and Y. Swami, "Adapting End Host Congestion
               Control for Mobility", Technical Report CR-2005-213838,
               NASA Glenn Research Center, July 2005.

[Eggert]       Eggert, L., Schuetz, S. and S. Schmid, "TCP Extensions
               for Immediate Retransmissions", draft-eggert-tcpm-tcp-
               retransmit-now-02.txt, Internet draft (work in progress),
               June 2005.





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[Eggert2]      Eggert, L. and W. Eddy, "Towards More Expressive
               Transport-Layer Interfaces", MobiArch '06, San Francisco,
               CA.

[ETX]          Douglas S. J. De Couto, Daniel Aguayo, John Bicket, and
               Robert Morris, "A High-Throughput Path Metric for Multi-
               Hop Wireless Routing", Proceedings of the 9th ACM
               International Conference on Mobile Computing and
               Networking (MobiCom '03), San Diego, California,
               September 2003.

[ETX-Rate]     Padhye, J., Draves, R. and B. Zill, "Routing in multi-
               radio, multi-hop wireless mesh networks", Proceedings of
               ACM MobiCom Conference, September 2003.

[ETX-Radio]    Kulkarni, G., Nandan, A., Gerla, M. and M. Srivastava, "A
               Radio Aware Routing Protocol for Wireless Mesh Networks",
               UCLA Computer Science Department, Los Angeles, CA

[GenTrig]      Gupta, V. and D. Johnston, "A Generalized Model for Link
               Layer Triggers", submission to IEEE 802.21 (work in
               progress), March 2004, available at:
               http://www.ieee802.org/handoff/march04_meeting_docs/
               Generalized_triggers-02.pdf

[Goel]         Goel, S. and D. Sanghi, "Improving TCP Performance over
               Wireless Links", Proceedings of TENCON'98, pages 332-335.
               IEEE, December 1998.

[Gont]         Gont, F., "ICMP attacks against TCP", draft-ietf-tcpm-
               icmp-attacks-01, Internet draft (work in progress),
               October 2006.

[Gurtov]       Gurtov, A. and J. Korhonen, "Effect of Vertical Handovers
               on Performance of TCP-Friendly Rate Control", to appear
               in ACM MCCR, 2004.

[GurtovFloyd]  Gurtov, A. and S. Floyd, "Modeling Wireless Links for
               Transport Protocols", Computer Communications Review
               (CCR) 34, 2 (2003).

[Haratcherev]  Haratcherev, I., Lagendijk, R., Langendoen, K. and H.
               Sips, "Hybrid Rate Control for IEEE 802.11", MobiWac '04,
               October 1, 2004, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

[Haratcherev2] Haratcherev, I., "Application-oriented Link Adaptation
               for IEEE 802.11", Ph.D. Thesis, Technical University of
               Delft, Netherlands, ISBN-10:90-9020513-6,



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               ISBN-13:978-90-9020513-7, March 2006.

[HMP]          Lee, S., Cho, J. and A. Campbell, "Hotspot Mitigation
               Protocol (HMP)", draft-lee-hmp-00.txt, Internet draft
               (work in progress), October 2003.

[Holland]      Holland, G. and N. Vaidya, "Analysis of TCP Performance
               over Mobile Ad Hoc Networks", Proceedings of the Fifth
               International Conference on Mobile Computing and
               Networking, pages 219-230. ACM/IEEE, Seattle, August
               1999.

[Iannaccone]   Iannaccone, G., Chuah, C., Mortier, R., Bhattacharyya, S.
               and C. Diot, "Analysis of link failures in an IP
               backbone", Proc. of ACM Sigcomm Internet Measurement
               Workshop, November, 2002.

[IEEE-802.1X]  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "Local
               and Metropolitan Area Networks: Port-Based Network Access
               Control", IEEE Standard 802.1X, December 2004.

[IEEE-802.11]  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
               "Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical
               Layer (PHY) Specifications", IEEE Standard 802.11, 2003.

[IEEE-802.11e] Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
               "Standard for Telecommunications and Information Exchange
               Between Systems - LAN/MAN Specific Requirements - Part
               11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical
               Layer (PHY) Specifications - Amendment 8: Medium Access
               Control (MAC) Quality of Service Enhancements", IEEE
               802.11e, November 2005.

[IEEE-802.11F] Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "IEEE
               Trial-Use Recommended Practice for Multi-Vendor Access
               Point Interoperability via an Inter-Access Point Protocol
               Across Distribution Systems Supporting IEEE 802.11
               Operation", IEEE 802.11F, June 2003 (now deprecated).

[IEEE-802.11i] Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
               "Supplement to Standard for Telecommunications and
               Information Exchange Between Systems - LAN/MAN Specific
               Requirements - Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access
               Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications:
               Specification for Enhanced Security", IEEE 802.11i, July
               2004.





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[IEEE-802.11k] Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "Draft
               Amendment to Telecommunications and Information Exchange
               Between Systems - LAN/MAN Specific Requirements - Part
               11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical
               Layer (PHY) Specifications - Amendment 7: Radio Resource
               Management", IEEE 802.11k/D7.0, January 2007.

[IEEE-802.21]  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "Draft
               Standard for Telecommunications and Information Exchange
               Between Systems - LAN/MAN Specific Requirements - Part
               21: Media Independent Handover", IEEE 802.21D0, June
               2005.

[Kamerman]     Kamerman, A. and L. Monteban, "Wavelan ii: A
               highperformance wireless lan for unlicensed band", Bell
               Labs Technical Journal, 1997.

[Kim]          Kim, K., Park, Y., Suh, K., and Y. Park, "The BU-trigger
               method for improving TCP performance over Mobile IPv6",
               draft-kim-tsvwg-butrigger-00.txt, Internet draft (work in
               progress), August 2004.

[Kotz]         Kotz, D., Newport, C. and C. Elliot, "The mistaken axioms
               of wireless-network research", Dartmouth College Computer
               Science Technical Report TR2003-467, July 2003.

[Krishnan]     Krishnan, R., Sterbenz, J., Eddy, W., Partridge, C. and
               M. Allman, "Explicit Transport Error Notification (ETEN)
               for Error-Prone Wireless and Satellite Networks",
               Computer Networks, 46 (3), October 2004.

[Lacage]       Lacage, M., Manshaei, M. and T. Turletti, "IEEE 802.11
               Rate Adaptation: A Practical Approach", MSWiM '04,
               October 4-6, 2004, Venezia, Italy.

[Lee]          Park, S., Lee, M. and J. Korhonen, "Link Characteristics
               Information for Mobile IP", draft-daniel-mip-link-
               characteristic-03.txt, Internet draft (work in progress),
               January 2007.

[Ludwig]       Ludwig, R. and B. Rathonyi, "Link-layer Enhancements for
               TCP/IP over GSM", Proceedings of IEEE Infocom '99, March
               1999.

[MIPEAP]       Giaretta, C., Guardini, I., Demaria, E., Bournelle, J.
               and M. Laurent-Maknavicius, "MIPv6 Authorization and
               Configuration based on EAP", draft-giaretta-
               mip6-authorization-eap-04.txt, Internet draft (work in



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               progress), October 2006.

[Mishra]       Mitra, A., Shin, M., and W. Arbaugh, "An Empirical
               Analysis of the IEEE 802.11 MAC Layer Handoff Process",
               CS-TR-4395, University of Maryland Department of Computer
               Science, September 2002.

[Morgan]       Morgan, S. and S. Keshav, "Packet-Pair Rate Control -
               Buffer Requirements and Overload Performance", Technical
               Memorandum, AT&T Bell Laaboratoies, October 1994.

[Mun]          Mun, Y. and J. Park, "Layer 2 Handoff for Mobile-IPv4
               with 802.11", draft-mun-mobileip-layer2-handoff-
               mipv4-01.txt, Internet draft (work in progress), March
               2004.

[PEAP]         Palekar, A., Simon, D., Salowey, J., Zhou, H., Zorn, G.
               and S. Josefsson, "Protected EAP Protocol (PEAP) Version
               2", draft-josefsson-pppext-eap-tls-eap-10.txt, Internet
               draft (work in progress), October 2004.

[Park]         Park, S., Njedjou, E. and N. Montavont, "L2 Triggers
               Optimized Mobile IPv6 Vertical Handover: The 802.11/GPRS
               Example", draft-daniel-mip6-optimized-vertical-
               handover-00.txt, July 2004.

[Pavon]        Pavon, J. and S. Choi, "Link adaptation strategy for
               IEEE802.11 WLAN via received signal strength
               measurement", IEEE International Conference on
               Communications, 2003 (ICC '03), volume 2, pages
               1108-1113, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, May 2003.

[PRNET]        Jubin, J. and J. Tornow, "The DARPA packet radio network
               protocols", Proceedings of the IEEE, 75(1), January 1987.

[Qiao]         Qiao D., Choi, S., Jain, A. and Kang G. Shin, "MiSer: An
               Optimal Low-Energy Transmission Strategy for IEEE 802.11
               a/h", in Proc. ACM MobiCom'03, San Diego, CA, September
               2003.

[RBAR]         Holland, G., Vaidya, N. and P. Bahl, "A Rate-Adaptive MAC
               Protocol for Multi-Hop Wireless Networks", Proceedings
               ACM MOBICOM, July 2001.

[Ramani]       Ramani, I. and S. Savage, "SyncScan: Practical Fast
               Handoff for 802.11 Infrastructure Networks", Proceedings
               of the IEEE InfoCon 2005, March 2005.




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[Scott]        Scott, J., Mapp, G., "Link Layer Based TCP Optimisation
               for Disconnecting Networks", ACM SIGCOMM Computer
               Communication Review, 33(5), October 2003.

[Schuetz]      Schutz, S., Eggert, L., Schmid, S. and M. Brunner,
               "Protocol Enhancements for Intermittently Connected
               Hosts", ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communications Review,
               Volume 35, Number 2, July 2005.

[Shortest]     Douglas S. J. De Couto, Daniel Aguayo, Benjamin A.
               Chambers and Robert Morris, "Performance of Multihop
               Wireless Networks: Shortest Path is Not Enough",
               Proceedings of the First Workshop on Hot Topics in
               Networking (HotNets-I), Princeton, New Jersey, October
               2002.

[TRIGTRAN]     Dawkins, S., Williams, C. and A. Yegin, "Framework and
               Requirements for TRIGTRAN", draft-dawkins-trigtran-
               framework-00.txt, Internet draft (work in progress),
               August 2003.

[Vatn]         Vatn, J., "An experimental study of IEEE 802.11b handover
               performance and its effect on voice traffic", TRITA-IMIT-
               TSLAB R 03:01, KTH Royal Institute of Technology,
               Stockholm, Sweden, July 2003.

[Yegin]        Yegin, A., "Link-layer Triggers Protocol", draft-yegin-
               l2-triggers-00.txt, Internet Draft (work in progress),
               June 2002.

[Velayos]      Velayos, H. and G. Karlsson, "Techniques to Reduce IEEE
               802.11b MAC Layer Handover Time", TRITA-IMIT-LCN R 03:02,
               KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden,
               April 2003.

[Vertical]     Zhang, Q., Guo, C., Guo, Z. and W. Zhu, "Efficient
               Mobility Management for Vertical Handoff between WWAN and
               WLAN", IEEE Communications Magazine, November 2003.

[Villamizar]   Villamizar, C., "OSPF Optimized Multipath (OSPF-OMP)",
               draft-ietf-ospf-omp-02.txt, Internet draft (work in
               progress), February 1999.

[Xylomenos]    Xylomenos, G., "Multi Service Link Layers: An Approach to
               Enhancing Internet Performance over Wireless Links",
               Ph.D. thesis, University of California at San Diego,
               1999.




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Appendix A - Literature Review

   This Appendix summarizes the literature with respect to link
   indications on wireless local area networks.

A.0 Terminology

Access Point (AP)
     A station that provides access to the fixed network (e.g. an 802.11
     Distribution System), via the wireless medium (WM) for associated
     stations.

Beacon
     A control message broadcast by a station (typically an Access
     Point), informing stations in the neighborhood of its continuing
     presence, possibly along with additional status or configuration
     information.

Binding Update (BU)
     A message indicating a mobile node's current mobility binding, and
     in particular its care-of address.

Correspondent Node
     A peer node with which a mobile node is communicating.  The
     correspondent node may be either mobile or stationary.

Mobile Node
     A node that can change its point of attachment from one link to
     another, while still being reachable via its home address.

Station (STA)
     Any device that contains an IEEE 802.11 conformant medium access
     control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) interface to the wireless
     medium (WM).

A.1 Link Layer

   The characteristics of wireless links have been found to vary
   considerably depending on the environment.

   In "Performance of Multihop Wireless Networks: Shortest Path is Not
   Enough" [Shortest] the authors studied the performance of both an
   indoor and outdoor mesh network.  By measuring inter-node throughput,
   the best path between nodes was computed.  The throughput of the best
   path was compared with the throughput of the shortest path computed
   based on a hop-count metric.  In almost all cases, the shortest path
   route offered considerably lower throughput than the best path.




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   In examining link behavior, the authors found that rather than
   exhibiting a bi-modal distribution between "up" (low loss rate) and
   "down" (high loss rates), many links exhibited intermediate loss
   rates.  Asymmetry was also common, with 30 percent of links
   demonstrating substantial differences in the loss rates in each
   direction.  As a result, on wireless networks the measured throughput
   can differ substantially from the negotiated rate due to
   retransmissions, and successful delivery of routing packets is not
   necessarily an indication that the link is useful for delivery of
   data.

   In "Measurement and Analysis of the Error Characteristics of an In-
   Building Wireless Network" [Eckhardt], the authors characterize the
   performance of an AT&T Wavelan 2 Mbps in-building WLAN operating in
   Infrastructure mode on the Carnegie-Mellon Campus.  In this study,
   very low frame loss was experienced.  As a result, links could either
   be assumed to operate very well or not at all.

   "Link-level Measurements from an 802.11b Mesh Network" [Aguayo]
   analyzes the causes of frame loss in a 38-node urban multi-hop 802.11
   ad-hoc network.  In most cases,  links that are very bad in one
   direction tend to be bad in both directions, and links that are very
   good in one direction tend to be good in both directions.  However,
   30 percent of links exhibited loss rates differing substantially in
   each direction.

   Signal to noise ratio and distance showed little value in predicting
   loss rates, and rather than exhibiting a step-function transition
   between "up" (low loss) or "down" (high loss) states,  inter-node
   loss rates varied widely, demonstrating a nearly uniform distribution
   over the range at the lower rates.  The authors attribute the
   observed effects to multi-path fading, rather than attenuation or
   interference.

   The findings of [Eckhardt] and [Aguayo] demonstrate the diversity of
   link conditions observed in practice.  While for indoor
   infrastructure networks site surveys and careful measurement can
   assist in promoting ideal behavior, in ad-hoc/mesh networks node
   mobility and external factors such as weather may not be easily
   controlled.

   Considerable diversity in behavior is also observed due to
   implementation effects.  "Techniques to reduce IEEE 802.11b MAC layer
   handover time" [Velayos] measured handover times for a stationary STA
   after the AP was turned off.  This study divided handover times into
   detection (determination of disconnection from the existing point of
   attachment) search (discovery of alternative attachment points), and
   execution phases (connection to an alternative point of attachment).



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   These measurements indicated that the duration of the detection phase
   (the largest component of handoff delay) is determined by the number
   of non-acknowledged frames triggering the search phase and delays due
   to precursors such as RTS/CTS and rate adaptation.

   Detection behavior varied widely between implementations.  For
   example, NICs designed for desktops attempted more retransmissions
   prior to triggering search as compared with laptop designs, since
   they assumed that the AP was always in range, regardless of whether
   the Beacon was received.

   The study recommends that the duration of the detection phase be
   reduced by initiating the search phase as soon as collisions can be
   excluded as the cause of non-acknowledged transmissions; the authors
   recommend three consecutive transmission failures as the cutoff.
   This approach is both quicker and more immune to multi-path
   interference than monitoring of the S/N ratio.  Where the STA is not
   sending or receiving frames, it is recommended that Beacon reception
   be tracked in order to detect disconnection, and that Beacon spacing
   be reduced to 60 ms in order to reduce detection times.  In order to
   compensate for more frequent triggering of the search phase, the
   authors recommend algorithms for wait time reduction, as well as
   interleaving of search and data frame transmission.

   "An Empirical Analysis of the IEEE 802.11 MAC Layer Handoff Process"
   [Mishra] investigates handoff latencies obtained with three mobile
   STAs implementations communicating with two APs.  The study found
   that there is large variation in handoff latency among STA and AP
   implementations and that implementations utilize different message
   sequences.  For example, one STA sends a Reassociation Request prior
   to authentication, which results in receipt of a Deauthenticate
   message.  The study divided handoff latency into discovery,
   authentication and reassociation exchanges, concluding that the
   discovery phase was the dominant component of handoff delay.  Latency
   in the detection phase was not investigated.

   "SyncScan: Practical Fast Handoff for 802.11 Infrastructure Networks"
   [Ramani] weighs the pros and cons of active versus passive scanning.
   The authors point out the advantages of timed beacon reception, which
   had previously been incorporated into [IEEE-802.11k].  Timed beacon
   reception allows the station to continually keep up to date on the
   signal/noise ratio of neighboring APs, allowing handoff to occur
   earlier.  Since the station does not need to wait for initial and
   subsequent responses to a broadcast Probe Response (MinChannelTime
   and MaxChannelTime, respectively), performance is comparable to what
   is achievable with 802.11k Neighbor Reports and unicast Probe
   Requests.




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   The authors measure the channel switching delay, the time it takes to
   switch to a new frequency, and begin receiving frames.  Measurements
   ranged from 5 ms to 19 ms per channel; where timed Beacon reception
   or interleaved active scanning is used, switching time contributes
   significantly to overall handoff latency.  The authors propose
   deployment of APs with Beacons synchronized via NTP, enabling a
   driver implementing SyncScan to work with legacy APs without
   requiring implementation of new protocols.  The authors measure the
   distribution of inter-arrival times for stations implementing
   SyncScan, with excellent results.

   "Roaming Interval Measurements" [Alimian] presents data on stationary
   STAs after the AP signal has been shut off.  This study highlighted
   implementation differences in rate adaptation as well as detection,
   scanning and handoff.  As in [Velayos], performance varied widely
   between implementations, from half an order of magnitude variation in
   rate adaptation to an order of magnitude difference in detection
   times, two orders of magnitude in scanning, and one and a half orders
   of magnitude in handoff times.

   "An experimental study of IEEE 802.11b  handoff performance and its
   effect on voice traffic" [Vatn] describes handover behavior observed
   when the signal from AP is gradually attenuated, which is more
   representative of field experience than the shutoff techniques used
   in [Velayos].  Stations were configured to initiate handover when
   signal strength dipped below a threshold, rather than purely based on
   frame loss, so that they could begin handover while still connected
   to the current AP.  It was noted that stations continue to receive
   data frames during the search phase.  Station-initiated
   Disassociation and pre-authentication were not observed in this
   study.

A.1.1 Link Indications

   Within a link layer, the definition of "Link Up" and "Link Down" may
   vary according to the deployment scenario.  For example, within PPP
   [RFC1661], either peer may send an LCP-Terminate frame in order to
   terminate the PPP link layer, and a link may only be assumed to be
   usable for sending network protocol packets once NCP negotiation has
   completed for that protocol.

   Unlike PPP, IEEE 802 does not include facilities for network layer
   configuration, and the definition of "Link Up" and "Link Down" varies
   by implementation.  Empirical evidence suggests that the definition
   of "Link Up" and "Link Down" may depend on whether the station is
   mobile or stationary, whether infrastructure or ad-hoc mode is in
   use, and whether security and Inter-Access Point Protocol (IAPP) is
   implemented.



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   Where a STA encounters a series of consecutive non-acknowledged
   frames while having missed one or more beacons, the most likely cause
   is that the station has moved out of range of the AP.  As a result,
   [Velayos] recommends that the station begin the search phase after
   collisions can be ruled out;  since this approach does not take rate
   adaptation into account, it may be somewhat aggressive.  Only when no
   alternative workable rate or point of attachment is found is a "Link
   Down" indication returned.

   In a stationary point-to-point installation, the most likely cause of
   an outage is that the link has become impaired, and alternative
   points of attachment may not be available.  As a result,
   implementations configured to operate in this mode tend to be more
   persistent.  For example, within 802.11 the short interframe space
   (SIFS) interval may be increased and MIB variables relating to
   timeouts (such as dot11AuthenticationResponseTimeout,
   dot11AssociationResponseTimeout, dot11ShortRetryLimit, and
   dot11LongRetryLimit) may be set to larger values.  In addition a
   "Link Down" indication may be returned later.

   In IEEE 802.11 ad-hoc mode with no security, reception of data frames
   is enabled in State 1 ("Unauthenticated" and "Unassociated").  As a
   result, reception of data frames is enabled at any time, and no
   explicit "Link Up" indication exists.

   In Infrastructure mode, IEEE 802.11-2003 enables reception of data
   frames only in State 3 ("Authenticated" and "Associated").  As a
   result, a transition to State 3 (e.g. completion of a successful
   Association or Reassociation exchange) enables sending and receiving
   of network protocol packets and a transition from State 3 to State 2
   (reception of a "Disassociate" frame) or State 1 (reception of a
   "Deauthenticate" frame) disables sending and receiving of network
   protocol packets.  As a result, IEEE 802.11 stations typically signal
   "Link Up" on receipt of a successful Association/Reassociation
   Response.

   As described within [IEEE-802.11F], after sending a Reassociation
   Response, an Access Point will send a frame with the station's source
   address to a multicast destination.  This causes switches within the
   Distribution System (DS) to update their learning tables, readying
   the DS to forward frames to the station at its new point of
   attachment.  Were the AP to not send this "spoofed" frame, the
   station's location would not be updated within the distribution
   system until it sends its first frame at the new location.  Thus the
   purpose of spoofing is to equalize uplink and downlink handover
   times.  This enables an attacker to deny service to authenticated and
   associated stations by spoofing a Reassociation Request using the
   victim's MAC address, from anywhere within the ESS.  Without



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   spoofing, such an attack would only be able to disassociate stations
   on the AP to which the Reassociation Request was sent.

   The signaling of "Link Down" is considerably more complex.  Even
   though a transition to State 2 or State 1 results in the station
   being unable to send or receive IP packets, this does not necessarily
   imply that such a transition should be considered a "Link Down"
   indication.  In an infrastructure network, a station may have a
   choice of multiple access points offering connection to the same
   network.  In such an environment, a station that is unable to reach
   State 3 with one access point may instead choose to attach to another
   access point.  Rather than registering a "Link Down" indication with
   each move, the station may instead register a series of "Link Up"
   indications.

   In [IEEE-802.11i] forwarding of frames from the station to the
   distribution system is only feasible after the completion of the
   4-way handshake and group-key handshake, so that entering State 3 is
   no longer sufficient.  This has resulted in several observed
   problems.  For example, where a "Link Up" indication is triggered on
   the station by receipt of an Association/Reassociation Response, DHCP
   [RFC2131] or RS/RA may be triggered prior to when the link is usable
   by the Internet layer, resulting in configuration delays or failures.
   Similarly, Transport layer connections will encounter packet loss,
   resulting in back-off of retransmission timers.

A.1.2 Smart Link Layer Proposals

   In order to improve link layer performance, several studies have
   investigated "smart link layer" proposals.

   In "Link-layer Enhancements for TCP/IP over GSM" [Ludwig], the
   authors describe how the GSM reliable and unreliable link layer modes
   can be simultaneously utilized without higher layer control.  Where a
   reliable link layer protocol is required (where reliable transports
   such TCP and SCTP are used), the Radio Link Protocol (RLP) can be
   engaged;  with delay sensitive applications such as those based on
   UDP, the transparent mode (no RLP) can be used.  The authors also
   describe how PPP negotiation can be optimized over high latency GSM
   links using "Quickstart-PPP".

   In "Link Layer Based TCP Optimisation for Disconnecting Networks"
   [Scott], the authors describe performance problems that occur with
   reliable transport protocols facing periodic network disconnections,
   such as those due to signal fading or handoff.  The authors define a
   disconnection as a period of connectivity loss that exceeds a
   retransmission timeout, but is shorter than the connection lifetime.
   One issue is that link-unaware senders continue to backoff during



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   periods of disconnection.  The authors suggest that a link-aware
   reliable transport implementation halt retransmission after receiving
   a "Link Down" indication.  Another issue is that on reconnection the
   lengthened retransmission times cause delays in utilizing the link.

   To improve performance, a "smart link layer" is proposed, which
   stores the first packet that was not successfully transmitted on a
   connection, then retransmits it upon receipt of a "Link Up"
   indication.  Since a disconnection can result in hosts experiencing
   different network conditions upon reconnection, the authors do not
   advocate bypassing slowstart or attempting to raise the congestion
   window.  Where IPsec is used and connections cannot be differentiated
   because transport headers are not visible,  the first untransmitted
   packet for a given sender and destination IP address can be
   retransmitted.  In addition to looking at retransmission of a single
   packet per connection, the authors also examined other schemes such
   as retransmission of multiple packets and rereception of single or
   multiple packets.

   In general, retransmission schemes were superior to rereception
   schemes, since rereception cannot stimulate fast retransmit after a
   timeout.  Retransmission of multiple packets did not appreciably
   improve performance over retransmission of a single packet.  Since
   the focus of the research was on disconnection rather than just lossy
   channels, a two state Markov model was used, with the "up" state
   representing no loss, and the "down" state representing one hundred
   percent loss.

   In "Multi Service Link Layers: An Approach to Enhancing Internet
   Performance over Wireless Links" [Xylomenos], the authors use ns-2 to
   simulate the performance of various link layer recovery schemes (raw
   link without retransmission, go back N, XOR based FEC, selective
   repeat, Karn's RLP, out of sequence RLP and Berkeley Snoop) in stand-
   alone file transfer, web browsing and continuous media distribution.
   While selective repeat and Karn's RLP provide the highest throughput
   for file transfer and web browsing scenarios, continuous media
   distribution requires a combination of low delay and low loss and the
   out of sequence RLP performed best in this scenario.  Since the
   results indicate that no single link layer recovery scheme is optimal
   for all applications, the authors propose that the link layer
   implement multiple recovery schemes.  Simulations of the multi-
   service architecture showed that the combination of a low-error rate
   recovery scheme for TCP (such as Karn's RLP) and a low-delay scheme
   for UDP traffic (such as out of sequence RLP) provides for good
   performance in all scenarios.  The authors then describe how a multi-
   service link layer can be integrated with Differentiated Services.

   In "Wavelan ii: A highperformance wireless lan for the unlicensed



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   band" [Kamerman] the authors propose a rate adaptation algorithm
   (ARF) in which the sender adjusts the rate upwards after a fixed
   number of successful transmissions, and adjusts the rate downwards
   after one or two consecutive failures.  If after an upwards rate
   adjustment the transmission fails, the rate is immediately readjusted
   downwards.

   In  "A Rate-Adaptive MAC Protocol for Multi-Hop Wireless Networks"
   [RBAR] the authors propose a rate adaptation approach that requires
   incompatible changes to the IEEE 802.11 MAC.  In order to enable the
   sender to better determine the transmission rate, the receiver
   determines the packet length and Signal/Noise Ratio (SNR) of a
   received RTS frame and calculates the corresponding rate based on a
   theoretical channel model, rather than channel usage statistics.  The
   recommended rate is sent back in the CTS frame.  This allows the rate
   (and potentially the transmit power) to be optimized on each
   transmission, albeit at the cost of requiring RTS/CTS for every frame
   transmission.

   In "MiSer: An Optimal Low-Energy Transmission Strategy for IEEE
   802.11 a/h" [Qiao] the authors propose a scheme for optimizing
   transmit power.  The proposal mandates the use of RTS/CTS in order to
   deal with hidden nodes, requiring that CTS and ACK frames be sent at
   full power.  However, this approach also utilizes a theoretical model
   rather than determining the model based on channel usage statistics.

   In "IEEE 802.11 Rate Adaptation: A Practical Approach" [Lacage] the
   authors distinguish between low latency implementations which enable
   per-packet rate decisions, and high latency implementations which do
   not.  The former implementations typically include dedicated CPUs in
   their design, enabling them to meet real-time requirements.  The
   latter implementations are typically based on highly integrated
   designs in which the upper MAC is implemented on the host.  As a
   result, due to operating system latencies the information required to
   make per-packet rate decisions may not be available in time.

   The authors propose an Adaptive ARF (AARF) algorithm for use with
   low-latency implementations.  This enables rapid downward rate
   negotiation on failure to receive an ACK, while increasing the amount
   number of successful transmission required for upward rate
   negotiation.  The AARF algorithm is therefore highly stable in
   situations where channel properties are changing slowly, but slow to
   adapt upwards when channel conditions improve.  In order to test the
   algorithm, the authors utilized ns-2 simulations as well as
   implementing a version of AARF adapted to a high latency
   implementation, the AR 5212 chipset.  The Multiband Atheros Driver
   for WiFi (MADWIFI) driver enables a fixed schedule of rates and
   retries to be provided when a frame is queued for transmission.  The



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   adapted algorithm, known as the Adaptive Multi Rate Retry (AMRR),
   requests only one transmission at each of three rates, the last of
   which is the minimum available rate.  This enables adaptation to
   short-term fluctuations in the channel with minimal latency.  The
   AMRR algorithm provides performance considerably better than the
   existing Madwifi driver and close to that of the RBAR algorithm,
   while enabling practical implementation.

   In "Link Adaptation Strategy for IEEE 802.11 WLAN via Received Signal
   Strength Measurement" [Pavon], the authors propose an algorithm by
   which a STA adjusts the transmission rate based on a comparison of
   the received signal strength (RSS) from the AP with dynamically
   estimated threshold values for each transmission rate.  Upon
   reception of a frame, the STA updates the average RSS, and on
   transmission the STA selects a rate and adjusts the RSS threshold
   values based on whether the transmission is successful or not.  In
   order to validate the algorithm, the authors utilized an OPNET
   simulation without interference, and an ideal curve of bit error rate
   (BER) vs. signal/noise ratio (SNR) was assumed.  Not surprisingly,
   the simulation results closely matched the maximum throughput
   achievable for a given signal/noise ratio, based on the ideal BER vs.
   SNR curve.

   In "Hybrid Rate Control for IEEE 802.11" [Haratcherev], the authors
   describe a hybrid technique utilizing Signal Strength Indication
   (SSI) data to constrain the potential rates selected by statistics-
   based automatic rate control.  Statistics-based rate control
   techniques include:

Maximum throughput
     This technique, which was chosen as the statistics-based technique
     in the hybrid scheme, sends a fraction of data at adjacent rates in
     order to estimate which rate provides the maximum throughput.
     Since accurate estimation of throughput requires a minimum number
     of frames to be sent at each rate, and only a fraction of frames
     are utilized for this purpose, this technique adapts more slowly at
     lower rates; with 802.11b rates, the adaptation time scale is
     typically on the order of a second.  Depending on how many rates
     are tested, this technique can enable adaptation beyond adjacent
     rates.

Frame Error Rate (FER) control
     This technique estimates the FER, attempting to keep it between a
     lower limit (if FER moves below, increase rate) and upper limit (if
     FER moves above, decrease rate).  Since this technique can utilize
     all the transmitted data, it can respond faster than maximum
     throughput techniques.  However, there is a tradeoff of reaction
     time versus FER estimation accuracy; at lower rates either reaction



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     times slow or FER estimation accuracy will suffer.  Since this
     technique only measures the FER at the current rate, it can only
     enable adaptation to adjacent rates.

Retry-based
     This technique modifies FER control techniques by enabling rapid
     downward rate adaptation after a number (5-10) of unsuccessful re-
     transmissions.  Since fewer packets are required, the sensitivity
     of reaction time to rate is reduced..  However, upward rate
     adaptation proceeds more slowly since it is based on collection of
     FERdata.  This technique is limited to adaptation to adjacent
     rates.

   While statistics-based techniques are robust against short-lived link
   quality changes, they do not respond quickly to long-lived changes.
   By constraining the rate selected by statistics-based techniques
   based on ACK SSI versus rate data (not theoretical curves), more
   rapid link adaptation was enabled.  In order to ensure rapid
   adaptation during rapidly varying conditions, the rate constraints
   are tightened when the SSI values are changing rapidly, encouraging
   rate transitions.  The authors validated their algorithms by
   implementing a driver for the Atheros AR5000 chipset, and then
   testing its response to insertion and removal from a microwave oven
   acting as a Faraday cage.  The hybrid algorithm dropped many fewer
   packets than the maximum throughput technique by itself.

   In order to estimate the SSI of data at the receiver, the SSI of ACKs
   received at the sender was used.  This approach did not require the
   receiver to provide the sender with the received SSI, so that it
   could be implemented without changing the IEEE 802.11 MAC.  This
   scheme assumes that transmit power remains constant on the sender and
   receiver and that channel properties in both directions vary slowly,
   so that the SSI of the received ACKs and sent data remain in
   proportion.  Actual data was used to determine the relationship
   between the ACK SSI and rate, so that the proportion itself does not
   matter, just as long as it varies slowly. The authors checked the
   proportionality assumption and found that the SSI of received data
   correlated highly (74%) with the SSI of received ACKs.  Low pass
   filtering and monotonicity constraints were applied to remove the
   considerable noise in the SSI versus rate curves.

   In "Efficient Mobility Management for Vertical Handoff between WWAN
   and WLAN" [Vertical] the authors propose use of signal strength and
   link utilization in order to optimize vertical handoff.  WLAN to WWAN
   handoff is driven by SSI decay. When IEEE 802.11 SSI falls below a
   threshold (S1), FFT-based decay detection is undertaken to determine
   if the signal is likely to continue to decay.  If so, then handoff to
   the WWAN is initiated when the signal falls below the minimum



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   acceptable level (S2).  WWAN to WLAN handoff is driven by both PHY
   and MAC characteristics of the IEEE 802.11 target network.  At the
   PHY layer, characteristics such as SSI are examined to determine if
   the signal strength is greater than a minimum value (S3); at the MAC
   layer the IEEE 802.11 Network Allocation Vector (NAV) occupation is
   examined in order to estimate the maximum available bandwidth and
   mean access delay.  Note that depending on the value of S3, it is
   possible for the negotiated rate to be less than the available
   bandwidth.  In order to prevent premature handoff between WLAN and
   WWAN, S1 and S2 are separated by 6 dB; in order to prevent
   oscillation between WLAN and WWAN media, S3 needs to be greater than
   S1 by an appropriate margin.

A.2 Internet Layer

   Within the Internet layer, proposals have been made for utilizing
   link indications to optimize IP configuration, to improve the
   usefulness of routing metrics, and to optimize aspects of Mobile IP
   handoff.

   In "Detecting Network Attachment (DNA) in IPv4" [RFC4436], a host
   that has moved to a new point of attachment utilizes a bi-directional
   reachability test in parallel with DHCP [RFC2131] to rapidly
   reconfirm an operable configuration.

   In "L2 Triggers Optimized Mobile IPv6 Vertical Handover: The
   802.11/GPRS Example" [Park] the authors propose that the mobile node
   send a router solicitation on receipt of a "Link Up" indication in
   order provide lower handoff latency than would be possible using
   generic movement detection [RFC3775].  The authors also suggest
   immediate invalidation of the Care-Of-Address (CoA) on receipt of a
   "Link Down" indication. However, this is problematic where a "Link
   Down" indication can be followed by a "Link Up" indication without a
   resulting change in IP configuration, as described in [RFC4436].

   In "Layer 2 Handoff for Mobile-IPv4 with 802.11" [Mun], the authors
   suggest that MIPv4 Registration messages be carried within
   Information Elements of IEEE 802.11 Association/Reassociation frames,
   in order to minimize handoff delays.  This requires modification to
   the mobile node as well as 802.11 APs.  However, prior to detecting
   network attachment, it is difficult for the mobile node to determine
   whether the new point of attachment represents a change of network or
   not.  For example, even where a station remains within the same ESS,
   it is possible that the network will change.  Where no change of
   network results, sending a MIPv4 Registration message with each
   Association/Reassociation is unnecessary.  Where a change of network
   results, it is typically not possible for the mobile node to
   anticipate its new CoA at Association/Reassociation; for example,  a



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   DHCP server may assign a CoA not previously given to the mobile node.
   When dynamic VLAN assignment is used, the VLAN assignment is not even
   determined until IEEE 802.1X authentication has completed, which is
   after Association/Reassociation in [IEEE-802.11i].

   In "Link Characteristics Information for Mobile IP" [Lee], link
   characteristics are included in registration/binding update messages
   sent by the mobile node to the home agent and correspondent node.
   Where the mobile node is acting as a receiver, this allows the
   correspondent node to adjust its transport parameters window more
   rapidly than might otherwise be possible.  Link characteristics that
   may be communicated include the link type (e.g. 802.11b, CDMA, GPRS,
   etc.) and link bandwidth.  While the document suggests that the
   correspondent node should adjust its sending rate based on the
   advertised link bandwidth, this may not be wise in some
   circumstances.  For example, where the mobile node link is not the
   bottleneck, adjusting the sending rate based on the link bandwidth
   could cause in congestion.  Also, where link rates change frequently,
   sending registration messages on each rate change could by itself
   consume significant bandwidth.  Even where the advertised link
   characteristics indicate the need for a smaller congestion window, it
   may be non-trivial to adjust the sending rates of individual
   connections where there are multiple connections open between a
   mobile node and correspondent node.  A more conservative approach
   would be to trigger parameter re-estimation and slow start based on
   the receipt of a registration message or binding update.

   In "Hotspot Mitigation Protocol (HMP)" [HMP], it is noted that MANET
   routing protocols have a tendency to concentrate traffic since they
   utilize shortest path metrics and allow nodes to respond to route
   queries with cached routes.  The authors propose that nodes
   participating in an ad-hoc wireless mesh monitor local conditions
   such as MAC delay, buffer consumption and packets loss.  Where
   congestion is detected, this is communicated to neighboring nodes via
   an IP option.  In response to moderate congestion, nodes suppress
   route requests; where major congestion is detected, nodes throttle
   TCP connections flowing through them.  The authors argue that for ad-
   hoc networks throttling by intermediate nodes is more effective than
   end-to-end congestion control mechanisms.

A.3 Transport Layer

   Within the Transport layer, proposals have focused on countering the
   effects of handoff-induced packet loss and non-congestive loss caused
   by lossy wireless links.

   Where a mobile host moves to a new network, the transport parameters
   (including the RTT, RTO and congestion window) may no longer be



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   valid.  Where the path change occurs on the sender (e.g. change in
   outgoing or incoming interface), the sender can reset its congestion
   window and parameter estimates.  However, where it occurs on the
   receiver, the sender may not be aware of the path change.

   In "The BU-trigger method for improving TCP performance over Mobile
   IPv6" [Kim], the authors note that handoff-related packet loss is
   interpreted as congestion by the Transport layer.  In the case where
   the correspondent node is sending to the mobile node, it is proposed
   that receipt of a Binding Update by the correspondent node be used as
   a signal to the Transport layer to adjust cwnd and ssthresh values,
   which may have been reduced due to handoff-induced packet loss.  The
   authors recommend that cwnd and ssthresh be recovered to pre-timeout
   values, regardless of whether the link parameters have changed.  The
   paper does not discuss the behavior of a mobile node sending a
   Binding Update, in the case where the mobile node is sending to the
   correspondent node.

   In "Effect of Vertical Handovers on Performance of TCP-Friendly Rate
   Control" [Gurtov], the authors examine the effect of explicit
   handover notifications on TCP-friendly rate control.  Where explicit
   handover notification includes information on the loss rate and
   throughput of the new link, this can be used to instantaneously
   change the transmission rate of the sender.  The authors also found
   that resetting the TFRC receiver state after handover enabled
   parameter estimates to adjust more quickly.

   In "Adapting End Host Congestion Control for Mobility" [Eddy], the
   authors note that while MIPv6 with route optimization allows a
   receiver to communicate a subnet change to the sender via a Binding
   Update, this is not available within MIPv4.  To provide a
   communication vehicle that can be universally employed, the authors
   propose a TCP option that allows a connection endpoint to inform a
   peer of a subnet change.  The document does not advocate utilization
   of "Link Up" or "Link Down" events since these events are not
   necessarily indicative of subnet change.  On detection of subnet
   change, it is advocated that the congestion window be reset to
   INIT_WINDOW and that transport parameters be re-estimated.  The
   authors argue that recovery from slow start results in higher
   throughput both when the subnet change results in lower bottleneck
   bandwidth as well as when bottleneck bandwidth increases.

   In "Efficient Mobility Management for Vertical Handoff between WWAN
   and WLAN" [Vertical] the authors propose a "Virtual Connectivity
   Manager" which utilizes local connection translation (LCT) and a
   subscription/notification service supporting simultaneous movement in
   order to enable end-to-end mobility and maintain TCP throughput
   during vertical handovers.



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   In an early draft of [RFC4340], a "Reset Congestion State" option was
   proposed in Section 4.  This option was removed in part because the
   use conditions were not fully understood:

      An Half-Connection Receiver sends the Reset Congestion State
      option to its sender to force the sender to reset its congestion
      state -- that is, to "slow start", as if the connection were
      beginning again.
       ...  The Reset Congestion State option is reserved for the very
      few cases when an endpoint knows that the congestion properties of
      a path have changed.  Currently, this reduces to mobility: a DCCP
      endpoint on a mobile host MUST send Reset Congestion State to its
      peer after the mobile host changes address or path.

   "Framework and Requirements for TRIGTRAN" [TRIGTRAN] discusses
   optimizations to recover earlier from a retransmission timeout
   incurred during a period in which an interface or intervening link
   was down.  "End-to-end, Implicit 'Link-Up' Notification" [E2ELinkup]
   describes methods by which a TCP implementation that has backed off
   its retransmission timer due to frame loss on a remote link can learn
   that the link has once again become operational.  This enables
   retransmission to be attempted prior to expiration of the backed off
   retransmission timer.

   "Link-layer Triggers Protocol" [Yegin] describes transport issues
   arising from lack of host awareness of link conditions on downstream
   Access Points and routers.  Transport of link layer triggers is
   proposed to address the issue.

   "TCP Extensions for Immediate Retransmissions" [Eggert], describes
   how a Transport layer implementation may utilize existing "end-to-end
   connectivity restored" indications.  It is proposed that in addition
   to regularly scheduled retransmissions that retransmission be
   attempted by the Transport layer on receipt of an indication that
   connectivity to a peer node may have been restored.  End-to-end
   connectivity restoration indications include "Link Up", confirmation
   of first-hop router reachability, confirmation of Internet layer
   configuration, and receipt of other traffic from the peer.

   In "Discriminating Congestion Losses from Wireless Losses Using
   Interarrival Times at the Receiver" [Biaz], the authors propose a
   scheme for differentiating congestive losses from wireless
   transmission losses based on inter-arrival times.  Where the loss is
   due to wireless transmission rather than congestion, congestive
   backoff and cwnd adjustment is omitted.  However, the scheme appears
   to assume equal spacing between packets, which is not realistic in an
   environment exhibiting link layer frame loss.  The scheme is shown to
   function well only when the wireless link is the bottleneck, which is



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   often the case with cellular networks, but not with IEEE 802.11
   deployment scenarios such as home or hotspot use.

   In "Improving Performance of TCP over Wireless Networks" [Bakshi],
   the authors focus on the performance of TCP over wireless networks
   with burst losses.  The authors simulate performance of TCP Tahoe
   within ns-2, utilizing a two-state Markov model, representing "good"
   and "bad" states.  Where the receiver is connected over a wireless
   link, the authors simulate the effect of an Explicit Bad State
   Notification (EBSN) sent by an access point unable to reach the
   receiver.  In response to an EBSN, it is advocated that the existing
   retransmission timer be canceled and replaced by a new dynamically
   estimated timeout, rather than being backed off.  In the simulations,
   EBSN prevents unnecessary timeouts, decreasing RTT variance and
   improving throughput.

   In "A Feedback-Based Scheme for Improving TCP Performance in Ad-Hoc
   Wireless Networks" [Chandran], the authors proposed an explicit Route
   Failure Notification (RFN), allowing the sender to stop its
   retransmission timers when the receiver becomes unreachable.  On
   route reestablishment, a Route Reestablishment Notification (RRN) is
   sent, unfreezing the timer.  Simulations indicate that the scheme
   significantly improves throughput and reduces unnecessary
   retransmissions.

   In "Analysis of TCP Performance over Mobile Ad Hoc Networks"
   [Holland], the authors explore how explicit link failure notification
   (ELFN) can improve the performance of TCP in mobile ad hoc networks.
   ELFN informs the TCP sender about link and route failures so that it
   need not treat the ensuing packet loss as due to congestion.  Using
   an ns-2 simulation of TCP-Reno over 802.11 with routing provided by
   the Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) protocol, it is demonstrated that
   TCP performance falls considerably short of expected throughput based
   on the percentage of the time that the network is partitioned.   A
   portion of the problem was attributed to the inability of the routing
   protocol to quickly recognize and purge stale routes, leading to
   excessive link failures; performance improved dramatically when route
   caching was turned off.  Interactions between the route request and
   transport retransmission timers were also noted.  Where the route
   request timer is too large, new routes cannot be supplied in time to
   prevent the transport timer from expiring, and where the route
   request timer is too small, network congestion may result.  For their
   implementation of ELFN, the authors piggybacked additional
   information on an existing "route failure" notice (sender and
   receiver addresses and ports, the TCP sequence number) to enable the
   sender to identify the affected connection.  Where a TCP receives an
   ELFN, it disables the retransmission timer and enters "stand-by"
   mode, where packets are sent at periodic intervals to determine if



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   the route has been reestablished.  If an acknowledgment is received
   then the retransmission timers are restored.  Simulations show that
   performance is sensitive to the probe interval, with intervals of 30
   seconds or greater giving worse performance than TCP-Reno.  The
   affect of resetting the congestion window and RTO values was also
   investigated.  In the study, resetting congestion window to one did
   not have much of an effect on throughput, since the bandwidth/delay
   of the network was only a few packets.  However, resetting the RTO to
   a high initial value (6 seconds) did have a substantial detrimental
   effect, particularly at high speed.  In terms of the probe packet
   sent, the simulations showed little difference between sending the
   first packet in the congestion window, or retransmitting the packet
   with the lowest sequence number among those signaled as lost via the
   ELFNs.

   In "Improving TCP Performance over Wireless Links" [Goel], the
   authors propose use of an ICMP-DEFER message, sent by a wireless
   access point on failure of a transmission attempt.  After exhaustion
   of retransmission attempts, an ICMP-RETRANSMIT message is sent.  On
   receipt of an ICMP-DEFER message, the expiry of the retransmission
   timer is postponed by the current RTO estimate. On receipt of an
   ICMP-RETRANSMIT message, the segment is retransmitted.  On
   retransmission, the congestion window is not reduced; when coming out
   of fast recovery, the congestion window is reset to its value prior
   to fast retransmission and fast recovery.  Using a two-state Markov
   model, simulated using ns-2, the authors show that the scheme
   improves throughput.

   In "Explicit Transport Error Notification (ETEN) for Error-Prone
   Wireless and Satellite Networks" [Krishnan], the authors examine the
   use of explicit transport error notification (ETEN) to aid TCP in
   distinguishing congestive losses from those due to corruption.  Both
   per-packet and cumulative ETEN mechanisms were simulated in ns-2,
   using both TCP Reno and TCP SACK over a wide range of bit error rates
   and traffic conditions.  While per-packet ETEN mechanisms provided
   substantial gains in TCP goodput without congestion, where congestion
   was also present, the gains were not significant.  Cumulative ETEN
   mechanisms did not perform as well in the study.  The authors point
   out that ETEN faces significant deployment barriers since it can
   create new security vulnerabilities and requires implementations to
   obtain reliable information from the headers of corrupt packets.

   In "Towards More Expressive Transport-Layer Interfaces" [Eggert2] the
   authors propose extensions to existing network/transport and
   transport/application interfaces to improve the performance of the
   transport layer in the face of changes in path characteristics
   varying more quickly than the round-trip time.




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   In "Protocol Enhancements for Intermittently Connected Hosts"
   [Schuetz], the authors note that intermittent connectivity can lead
   to poor performance and connectivity failures.  To address these
   problems, the authors combine the use of the Host Identity Protocol
   (HIP) with a TCP User Timeout Option and TCP Retransmission trigger,
   demonstrating significant improvement.

A.4 Application Layer

   In "Application-oriented Link Adaptation for IEEE 802.11"
   [Haratcherev2], rate information generated by a link layer utilizing
   improved rate adaptation algorithms is provided to a video
   application, and used for codec adaptation.  Coupling the link and
   application layers results in major improvements in the Peak
   Signal/Noise Ratio (PSNR).

   At the Application layer, the usage of "Link Down" indications has
   been proposed to augment presence systems.  In such systems, client
   devices periodically refresh their presence state using application
   layer protocols such as SIMPLE [RFC3428] or XMPP [RFC3921].  If the
   client should become disconnected, their unavailability will not be
   detected until the presence status times out, which can take many
   minutes.  However, if a link goes down, and a disconnect indication
   can be sent to the presence server (presumably by the access point,
   which remains connected), the status of the user's communication
   application can be updated nearly instantaneously.

























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Appendix B - IAB Members at the time of this writing

   Bernard Aboba
   Loa Andersson
   Brian Carpenter
   Leslie Daigle
   Elwyn Davies
   Kevin Fall
   Olaf Kolkman
   Kurtis Lindqvist
   David Meyer
   David Oran
   Eric Rescorla
   Dave Thaler
   Lixia Zhang

Authors' Addresses

   Bernard Aboba
   Microsoft Corporation
   One Microsoft Way
   Redmond, WA 98052

   EMail: bernarda@microsoft.com
   Phone: +1 425 706 6605
   Fax:   +1 425 936 7329

Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007).

   This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
   contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
   retain all their rights.

   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY, THE IETF TRUST AND
   THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS
   OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF
   THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.









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Intellectual Property

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Acknowledgment

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.























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