Multi-homing to Provide Reliable Connectivity

Abstract

There have been tremendous advances over the past decades when it comes to wireless access technologies. Nowadays, several wireless access technologies are available everywhere. Even mobile devices have evolved to support different access technologies in providing the best possible access to the internet. Smartphones and tablet PCs (e.g. Apple Ipad) for example have the capabilities to support different networks access technologies, like 3G, 4G or WiFi networks. Currently, these mobile devices can communicate using one access technology at a time. However, there is a big potential for improving network capacity and enhancing user Quality of Experience (QoE) if these access technologies are integrated together. Such integration would make access technologies to cooperate and work simultaneously in a heterogeneous environment from which both the end users, as well as, the mobile operators can benefit. With the help of these integrated networks, users can be provided with more reliable connectivity in disaster management scenarios. In this work, it is investigated how to tackle the simultaneous usage of wireless access technologies. For this purpose, a practical example of 3GPP (3rd generation partnership project) LTE (Long Term Evolution) and non-3GPP WLAN integrated heterogeneous network is considered.