  Efficient mobility management techniques are critical in providing seamless
connectivity and session continuity between a mobile node and the network
during its movement. Current mobility management solutions generally require a
central entity in the network core, tracking IP address movement and anchoring
traffic from source to destination through point-to-point tunnels. Intuitively,
this approach suffers from scalability limitations as it creates bottlenecks in
the network, due to sub-optimal routing via the anchor point. Meanwhile,
alternative anchorless, solutions are not feasible due to the current
limitations of the IP semantics, which strongly ties addressing information to
location. In contrast, novel path-based forwarding solutions may be exploited
for feasible anchorless solutions. In this paper, we propose a novel
network-based mobility management solution that facilitates IP mobility over
such a path-based forwarding substrate. Our solution exploits the advantages of
such substrates in decoupling path calculation from data transfer to eliminate
the need for anchoring traffic through the network core; thereby, allowing
flexible path calculation and service provisioning. Furthermore, by eliminating
the limitation of routing via the anchor point, our approach reduces the
network cost compared to anchored solution through bandwidth saving while
maintaining comparable handover delay. We evaluate our solution through
analytical and simulation models and compare it with the IETF standardized
solution, Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6). Evaluation results illustrate a
significant saving in the total network cost when using our proposed solution,
compared to its counterpart.
