The Nautilus6 working group belongs to the WIDE organization and is managed by volunteers. Nautilus6 aims at providing a better mobility IPv6 environment. We aim at improving Linux and BSD reference implementations, IPv6 related libraries and IPv6 applications. As a WIDE working group, we are tightly collaborating with KAME, USAGI, TAHI, InternetCAR, E-Care, and other WIDE teams. Our implementations will be freely available and released on a regular basis. Please check our web site http://www.nautilus6.org for the latest information.

Mobility functions will be essential to achieve the all-IP Internet and to connect all devices to the Internet at all time and any place. To achieve this ubiquitous Internet, we need efficient mobility support mechanisms to maintain ongoing communication flows while on the move. Such mechanisms include host mobility support (displacement of a single host in the IP topology without breaking open sessions), network mobility support (displacement of an entire network in the IP topology without breaking open sessions), ad-hoc networking (routing in an infrastructure-less network), in addition to other core IPv6 technologies such as multihoming, auto-configuration, multicast, security, access control.... The combination of all these technologies will enable on one side cars, trains, airplanes to connect to the Internet and on the other side people carrying IP devices to keep uninterrupted access to the Internet whether they are located at home, office, or commuting between them or shopping. It will also enable new trends, such as PANs (Personal Area Networks, small networks made of a mobile phone, portable music players, PDAs and other devices carried by people) to permanently connect to the Internet via the mobile phone acting as a mobile router.

In mobility specifically, a lot of work has already been done at the IETF in various working groups. The IP Routing for Wireless/Mobile Hosts WG (MobileIP) (MOBILEIP) has been discussing host mobility support for a long time and came up with the Mobile IPv6 protocol which adds mobility functions to IPv6 nodes. The NEtwork MObility WG (NEMO) has been established in November 2003 with the goal to add mobile functions to IPv6 routers to allow mobility of entire networks. The context transfer and seamless mobility WG (Seamoby) has been working on standards to improve handoffs (FMIPv6, CARD) and micro-mobility (cellular mobility and paging) (note that micro-mobility was later moved to the IRTF, the research side at the IETF). At last but not least, the Mobile Ad-hoc NETworking WG (MANET) has been discussing routing protocols for mobile and dynamic topologies. However, mobility features have been poorly demonstrated and have not been integrated. The reason which accounts the most is probably because the focus has always been on the mobility management protocols themselves, and not on the architecture needed to deploy them.

There is thus a need to integrate all IPv6 and mobility features, and to demonstrate how the mobility support mechanism could actually be deployed in a live environment, in an operational, efficient, secure, and integrated manner. For doing so, not only mobility management protocols must be implemented, but also most IPv6 features, access control, key exchange mechanisms, and explicit IPv6 applications that can benefit from mobility functions.

Nautilus6 is a mission-oriented project established within the WIDE organization in spring 2003 to demonstrate how the long awaited mobile Internet could be actually deployed. For doing so, we aim at demonstrating how IPv6 and its mobility features could be implemented, integrated and deployed in an operational, secure, and efficient manner.

Nautilus6 will seek to select and validate IPv6 mobility-related technologies. The WG will use IETF standards whenever appropriate or develop and standardize new ones when those are lacking within the IETF community. The WG will either be testing existing implementations or implement them when none are available. Also, Nautilus6 will design the operational framework of mobile Internet services to accelerate deployment by the commercial ISPs and carriers and will seek for or develop applications to demonstrate the technology. It will also pursue further research into IPv6 mobility. The missions of the Nautilus6 project are therefore:

In order to achieve our goals, Nautilus6 must conduct parallel activities in a number of areas. Nautilus6 is thus organized into cooperative sub-groups for each of the following activities:

For each protocol needed in the overall system architecture, we need to go threw a number of steps as depicted below. Those steps will be conducted within Incremental Testbeds. We will go threw these steps in two distinct phases, first the technical development of the protocol suite, and then the actual deployment of the technology. The realization of the second phase will depend on the results obtained in the first phase.