BRANCH_DOWN messages are sent periodically to keep the tree connected and solve any
failure could happen. These two messages will be discussed in the next section.
3.3.3.2 Node Mobility Management
A BRANCH messages (BRANCH_UP, BRANCH_DOWN) are sent periodically to make
sure that the INs are still connected. If an X node did not receive a BRANCH_UP message in
certain period of time, the X relies that the downstream IN is no more available. Node X
removes the entry for the downstream IN from its MFIT, and from now no packet will be
forwarded downstream to that IN. In case an X node did not receive a BRANCH_DOWN
message, this means that the upstream IN is no longer available. Node X will be a source for
the sub tree created because of this link failure. Node X starts a repair procedure as follows;
firstly node X notifies the downstream node that there is link failure to the source. Secondly,
it starts a local search for the new node to connect with a known TTL. As soon node X found
new node to connect it sends a JOIN message to the source and sends a BRANCH_DOWN
to the downstream nodes to inform it that the link is back. Figure 3.4 shows the packet
delivery for EM2NET.
Figure 3.4 Packet Delivery at EM2NET [7].
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