Border Gateway Protocol with Mobility Extension (BGP-MX)

The standard network protocol for inter-domain routing, the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), was designed for statically configured land-based networks which experience infrequent topology changes. BGP is remarkably successful in the stable "network-of-networks" environment it was designed for and is one of the fundamental protocols of the Internet. Any internetworking scheme that will connect to the Internet today must be compatible with BGP.

Cutting-edge applications of both military and commercial networks have begun to undercut some of the fundamental assumptions and design rules on which BGP is based. Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) are becoming more prevalent and will continue their growth. Unlike static, land-based networks, MANETs are characterized by frequent topology changes and geographic movement of nodes. Indeed, in the Mobile Airborne Network and other military applications, entire MANET networks become mobile. The task of maintaining a stable, reliable routing mesh between "networks-of-networks" where the networks themselves are inherently mobile is beyond the capability of BGP.

To overcome this capability gap of BGP ATCorp designed the Border Gateway Protocol with Mobility Extensions (BGP-MX) as the initial phase of an eventual replacement for BGP. With successful designs and detailed analysis, ATCorp has made significant progress towards establishing the feasibility of the BGP-MX approach. We have designed three innovative techniques that enable BGP-MX to provide inter-domain routing in a mobile Airborne Network environment. These innovations represent a significant advancement to the state of the art in routing protocols.

BGP-MX will allow cutting-edge, high-mobility networking systems to become and stay connected to the global internet without disrupting the global network itself. Many military and commercial applications exist for BGP-MX. Any application that utilizes mobile ad hoc networks as autonomous systems and wishes to integrate these systems into the existing internet would need BGP-MX or a similar technology to do so. Such applications and industries include but are not limited to airlines, ships, forest fighters, search and rescue, disaster relief, and the military. BGP-MX is applicable in any area where a group of people or devices are mobile, form a network, and there is no current infrastructure for connection to global networks.

The BGP-MX development effort is sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Rome, New York.