A Mobility Management Algorithm in the Internet of Things (IoT) for Smart Objects based on Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

In recent decades, technological advancements have significantly improved people's living standards and given rise to the rapid development of intelligent technologies. The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most important research topics worldwide. However, IoT is often comprised of unreliable wireless networks, with hundreds of mobile sensors interconnected. A traditional sensor network typically consists of fixed sensor nodes periodically transmitting data to a pre-determined router. Current applications, however, require sensing devices to be mobile between networks. We need mobility management protocols to manage these mobile nodes to provide uninterrupted service to users. The interactions between the mobile nodes are affected by the loss of signaling messages, increased latency, signaling costs, and energy consumption because of the characteristics of these networks, including constrained memory, processing power, and limited energy source. Hence, developing an algorithm for managing smart devices' mobility on the Internet is necessary. This study proposes an efficient and effective distributed mechanism to manage mobility in IoT devices. Using Software-Defined Networking (SDN) based on the CoAP protocol, the proposed method is intended not only to reduce the signaling cost of messages but also to make mobility management more reliable and simpler.