Title: A generic architecture for 'always best connected' UTMS/WLAN mobile networks

Authors: Vangelis Gazis, Nancy Alonistioti, Lazaros Merakos

Addresses: Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. ' Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. ' Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Abstract: The 4G mobile era will be based on a heterogeneous infrastructure comprising different wireless (and wired) systems in a complementary manner, where users will enjoy ubiquitous access to applications in an |Always Best Connected| (ABC) – mode that utilises the most efficient combination of systems available (e.g. UMTS and WLAN). We analyse the |ABC| concept in an interworked UMTS/WLAN network context and reveal important issues. Next, we identify major requirements of the |ABC| capacity, point out the limitations of UTMS/WLAN standards and discuss key enabling technologies and research efforts. We develop an application model for |ABC| and analyse its complexity proving that, in principle, being |ABC| translates to a family of NP-hard problems. Next, we present the design of an object-oriented UML real-time model for an |ABC| system and provide preliminary results from simulation scenarios. In conclusion, we summarise the advantages of our |ABC| model and provide directions for future work.

Keywords: wireless networks; mobile networks; beyond 3G; 4G cellular networks; always best connected; ABC; UMTS; wireless LANs; WLANs; optimisation; object-oriented modelling; UML; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWMC.2007.016719

International Journal of Wireless and Mobile Computing, 2007 Vol.2 No.4, pp.248 - 262

Published online: 18 Jan 2008 *

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