Current network architectures, as well as mobility management protocols, are generally deployed in a centralized manner. Moreover, these protocols are designed to be always activated, even when not needed. As the number of mobile users and the volume of their traffic increase, such centralized architectures are expected to encounter scalability issues as well as performance issues. Recently, mobile network operators are experiencing a rapid increase in mobile data traffic. In order to cope with this, a new trend is to flatten networks architectures and hence IP mobility management protocols need to be adapted for such evolution. Therefore, there is a need to define novel mobility management mechanisms that are both distributed and offered dynamically. In order to cope with this context, the thesis concerns designing, analyzing, and evaluating novel IPv6 network architectures and mobility protocols that are distributed and dynamic, and in particular Distributed Mobility Management (DMM). Before proposing any extension, we categorize the existing mobility schemes and carry out a comparative analysis on each category. Then, we propose a new distributed dynamic mobility management scheme based on the Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) protocol, with an optional extension for the joint use with the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). After, we carry out a performance analysis in terms of mobility costs, handover, and quality-of-service. Finally, we study the impacts on other aspects such as security considerations and location management.
