A multi-link mechanism for heterogeneous radio networks

Shun Neng Yang*, Yung Chun Lin, Chai Hien Gan, Yi-Bing Lin, Chien Ting Wu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nowadays, smart mobile devices drive the mobile traffic growth rapidly. Most smart mobile devices are equipped with multiple radio network interfaces, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and Wi-Fi. Therefore, integration of multiple networks is a viable solution to fulfill traffic offloading and the Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirement of data usage for mobile users. In this paper, we propose a multi-link mechanism to handle the radio network selection and switching between LTE and Wi-Fi networks. A Multi-Link Adaptor (MLA) and a Multi-Connection Manager (MCM) are proposed for the User Equipment (UE) and the core network, respectively, to handle the multi-link mechanism. The applications executed in the UEs do not need to be modified under the proposed approach. The MLA maintains a QoS class table and a routing table for the network selection procedure and uses the GPRS Tunneling Protocol-Control plane (GTP-C) control messages to execute network switching. In the future, we will measure the throughput of the multi-link network and the switch delay between the heterogeneous radio networks.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)661-674
Number of pages14
JournalWireless Personal Communications
Volume76
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jun 2014

Keywords

  • GTP tunnel
  • Multi-link integrated networks
  • QoS class
  • Radio network selection and switching

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