Where is in a Name? A Survey of Mobility in Information-Centric Networks

Host mobility has been a long standing challenge in the current Internet architecture. Hugeproportions of trac are now attributed to mobile devices [1]; however, despite this promi-nence, mobility often remains a badly handled concept. Some have recently argued thatthe main reason for this lies in its choice of what to name [2]. The Internet Protocol (IP)names hosts based on their topological network location. Through this, it intrinsically bindsthe what (the name) to the where (the address). Consequently, a mobile host moving itsphysical location is often required to change its name creating numerous problems.Observations such as this have led to a urry of research looking at how the futureInternet could be re-designed. A prominent example is that of information-centric networks(ICNs) [2][3][4]. ICNs propose a key paradigm shift, which involves replacing the Internet’sexisting host-based naming scheme with an information-based one instead. This articletherefore chooses to follow Shakespeare’s advice and ask \what’s in a name?", rather thanIP’s approach of \where is in a name?".Through this principle, an ICN becomes an infrastructure that revolves around the pro-vision of uniquely identi ed content