Interoperability criteria, mechanisms, and evaluation of system performance for transparently interoperating WLAN and UMTS-HSDPA networks

The main challenge in the development of future wireless communication systems is to provide users with a wide range of services across different radio access technologies through a single mobile terminal, while maintaining the minimum QoS requirements, and ideally with no limits on the coverage area, mobility or radio conditions. Thus, the need for seamless interworking between heterogeneous wireless communication systems consisting of multiple radio access technologies and overlapping networks emerges. In this article we address the main issues that arise while implementing the interoperability mechanisms between two different radio access networks, with emphasis on UMTS-HSDPA and WLAN (HIPERLAN/2). Two interoperability mechanisms are introduced and described in detail: initial user assignment (optimal network selection) and intersystem handover. Both mechanisms are activated via the optimization of a suitably defined cost function which takes into account all the appropriate system level parameters that trigger the interoperability process. Finally, we investigate the overall performance of the proposed mechanisms by means of a software simulation platform. A number of simulations have been carried out in order to demonstrate the performance enhancements achieved by the proposed mechanisms in terms of unsatisfied users, dropped handovers, and system throughput.     

An architecture for next-generation radio access networks

With fourth-generation wireless technologies envisioned to provide high bandwidth for content-rich multimedia applications, next-generation mobile communication systems are well poised to lead the technology march. Incumbent with the new technology is the challenge of providing flexible, reconfigurable architectures capable of catering to the dynamics of the network, while providing cost-effective solutions for service providers. In this article we focus on IP-based radio access network architectures for next-generation mobile systems. We provide an insight into wireless mesh-based connectivity for the RAN network elements - using short high-bandwidth links to interconnect the network entities in a multihop mesh network for backhauling traffic to the core. A generic self-similar fractal topology, using optical wireless transmission technology, is described. We study the performance of the architecture and conclude that mesh-based architectures are well suited to provide highly scalable, dynamic radio access networks with carrier-class features at significantly low system costs.     

Wireless LAN access network architecture for mobile operators

The evolution of IP-based office applications has created a strong demand for public wireless broadband access technology offering capacity far beyond current cellular systems. Wireless LAN access technology provides a perfect broadband complement for the operators' existing GSM and GPRS services in an indoor environment. Most commercial public wireless LAN solutions have only modest authentication and roaming capability compared to traditional cellular networks. This article describes a new wireless LAN system architecture that combines the WLAN radio access technology with mobile operators' SIM-based subscriber management functions and roaming infrastructure. In the defined system the WLAN access is authenticated and charged using GSM SIM. This solution supports roaming between cellular and WLAN access networks and is the first step toward an all-IP network architecture. The proto-type has been implemented and publicly verified in a real mobile operator network     

DiffServ resource allocation for fast handoff in wireless mobileInternet

The next-generation wireless networks are evolving toward a versatile IP-based network that can provide various real-time multimedia services to mobile users. Two major challenges in establishing such a wireless mobile Internet are support of fast handoff and provision of quality of service (QoS) over IP-based wireless access networks. In this article, a DiffServ resource allocation architecture is proposed for the evolving wireless mobile Internet. The registration-domain-based scheme supports fast handoff by significantly reducing mobility management signaling. The registration domain is integrated with the DiffServ mechanism and provisions QoS guarantee for each service class by domain-based admission control. Furthermore, an adaptive assured service is presented for the stream class of traffic, where resource allocation is adjusted according to the network condition in order to minimize handoff call dropping and new call blocking probabilities     

SDMA techniques for wireless ATM

The introduction of space-division multiple access techniques into wireless ATM systems is presented. The concepts are embedded in the framework of the HIPERLAN/2 system, which is currently under standardization by the ETSI Broadband Radio Access Networks (BRAN) project. HIPERLAN/2 aims at the provision of broadband services with guaranteed QoS. Originally started as a WATM standardization initiative, its scope has been broadened and now aims at core network independence. Essential system functions, such as scheduling algorithms and random access, are reviewed in light of the spatial dimension. To give an impression of their performance, some key results are discussed. Although adopted for HIPERLAN/2, the ideas are generally applicable and can be transferred to various systems     

Wireless Internet access for mobile subscribers based on theGPRS/UMTS network

With the advent of IP technologies and the tremendous growth in data traffic, the wireless industry is evolving its core networks toward IP technology. Enabling wireless Internet access is one of the upcoming challenges for mobile radio network operators. The General Packet Radio Service is the packet-switched extension of GSM and was developed to facilitate access to IP-based services better than existing circuit-switched services provided by GSM. We illustrate how a visited mobile subscriber on a GPRS/UMTS network can access his/her home network via the gateway GPRS support node (GGSN). We also propose some implementation ideas on wireless Internet access for a remote mobile subscriber based on a GPRS/UMTS network     

End-to-End Adaptive QoS Provisioning over GPRS Wireless Mobile Network

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) offers performance guaranteed packet data services to mobile users over wireless frequency-division duplex links with time division multiple access, and core packet data networks. This paper presents a dynamic adaptive guaranteed Quality-of-Service (QoS) provisioning scheme over GPRS wireless mobile links by proposing a guaranteed QoS media access control (GQ-MAC) protocol and an accompanying adaptive prioritized-handoff call admission control (AP-CAC) protocol to maintain GPRS QoS guarantees under the effect of mobile handoffs. The GQ-MAC protocol supports bounded channel access delay for delay-sensitive traffic, bounded packet loss probability for loss-sensitive traffic, and dynamic adaptive resource allocation for bursty traffic with peak bandwidth allocation adapted to the current queue length. The AP-CAC protocol provides dynamic adaptive prioritized admission by differentiating handoff requests with higher admission priorities over new calls via a dynamic multiple guard channels scheme, which dynamically adapts the capacity reserved for dealing with handoff requests based on the current traffic conditions in the neighboring radio cells. Integrated services (IntServ) QoS provisioning over the IP/ATM-based GPRS core network is realized over a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) architecture, and mobility is supported over the core network via a novel mobile label-switching tree (MLST) architecture. End-to-end QoS provisioning over the GPRS wireless mobile network is realized by mapping between the IntServ and GPRS QoS requirements, and by extending the AP-CAC protocol from the wireless medium to the core network to provide a unified end-to-end admission control with dynamic adaptive admission priorities.     

Wireless ATM LAN with and without infrastructure

We consider wireless ATM concepts for small LANs, especially for SOHO and future consumer applications. We describe a wireless ATM LAN framework architecture that supports wireless ATM communications in environments with and without fixed ATM infrastructure. For the configuration with an ATM infrastructure, a distributed ATM switched backbone is proposed, which enables a smart ATM switching element to be embedded in every wireless and fixed access point. For bandwidth efficiency and ease of operation (place-and-play), we also propose an ad hoc wireless ATM LAN concept based on the same 5 GHz wireless ATM air interface as is currently under standardization in the ETSI/BRAN and ATM Forum. Unlike CSMA-based ad hoc systems such as HIPERLAN and IEEE802.11, our ad hoc wireless ATM system makes QoS management feasible in an infrastructureless environment by using resource reservation and scheduled medium access protocol. Since cost scalability is essential throughout our system design, we consider forwarding between ad hoc subnets and interworking with the fixed network as important but optional features     

BRAIN—an architecture for a broadband radio access network of the next generation

The tremendous growth rates of the Internet as well as the area of mobile communications give rise to the chance that the mobile Internet is most promising by combining both the Internet and mobile communications. These prospects are the motivation for the European research project BRAIN (Broadband Radio Access for IP‐based Networks), which is developing an open architecture for a broadband wireless mobile access network offering an integrated communication platform across heterogeneous networks and, thus, goes beyond current third generation systems and towards the mobile Internet. The project covers three major technical areas: support of seamless service provision in a mobile environment; the design of an IP‐based access network that will support non‐cellular technologies such as wireless LANs; and requirements of a broadband air interface suitable for hot spots. BRAIN is going to integrate HIPERLAN/2 with UMTS by means of an IP access network. The work is guided by a user‐centric top‐down approach ensuring that user functionality is the key driver of the project. This article will focus on that part of the BRAIN work which specifies the main interfaces of the BRAIN architecture and deals with aspects related to the support of Quality of Service and mobility. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

无线数字家庭网络泛在接入技术

数字家庭网络是通信领域的一个重要分支，近年来发展非常迅速。基于电信网络的数字家庭网络体系结构在中国已经标准化，但就接入方式而言，只是定义了可以使用无线方式，如何组建无线数字家庭网络是未来研究的重点。文章提出了无线数字家庭网络泛在接入概念，给出了无线泛在接入网络体系结构，并就其中的关键技术进行了探讨，包括感知无线电、无线网状网（Mesh）网络理论、通用接入点链路转换机制、业务的QoS保障机制以及电磁兼容和异构系统共存机制等。     

Wireless ATM networks: technology status and future directions

The concept of “wireless ATM” (WATM), first proposed in 1992, is now being actively considered as a potential framework for new-generation wireless communication networks capable of supporting integrated, quality-of service (QoS) based multimedia services. In this review paper, we outline the technological rationale for wireless ATM, present a system-level architecture, and discuss key design issues for both mobile ATM switching infrastructure and radio access subsystems. The WATM radio access layer issues covered in this paper include: spectrum allocation; spectrum etiquette; modem technology; and medium access/data link control (MAC/DLC) protocols. Mobile ATM aspects such as ATM signaling extensions for handoff control, location management, and mobile QoS control are discussed. A summary of current wireless/mobile ATM technology development and standardization status is given, including an outline of our WATMnet prototype. The paper concludes with a discussion of future directions for wireless ATM technology such as Internet protocol (IP) integration and mobile multimedia terminals/applications     

Radio Network Aggregation for 5G Mobile Terminals in Heterogeneous Wireless and Mobile Networks

This paper provides a novel design concept for advanced mobile multi interface terminals with radio network aggregation capability and enhanced quality of service (QoS) provisioning for multimedia services (voice, video and data) in heterogeneous wireless and mobile networks. A new module is established which provides the best QoS and lowest cost for any given multimedia service by using simultaneously all available wireless and mobile access networks for a given traffic flow. This novel adaptive QoS module with adaptive QoS routing algorithm is called advanced QoS routing algorithm (AQoSRA), which is defined independently from any existing and future radio access technology. The performance of our proposal is evaluated using simulations and analysis with multi-interface mobile stations with AQoSRA within, carrying multimedia traffic in heterogeneous mobile and wireless environment with coexistence of multiple Radio Access Technologies, such as 3G, 4G as well as future 5G radio access networks. The analysis of the proposed framework for radio networks aggregation in advanced mobile terminals has shown overall better performances regarding the achievable throughput and multimedia access probability in heterogeneous wireless and mobile environment.     

Emerging wireless broadband networks

The rapid evolution of mobile wireless access networks toward multimedia support with QoS provision forces the development of advanced wireless broadband systems with high reliability and high data rate. To achieve this goal, new system design concepts with increased system capacity will be required. In that context, ATM is becoming a major infrastructure, receiving a lot of attention for telecommunication systems since ATM networks can most effectively support wireless access systems. Wireless ATM systems have low transmission cost, flexible functionality, mobile ATM protocol, and radio access layer protocols. This article overviews the various wireless broadband systems studied at 5, 19.37, 40, and 60 GHz by European Union funded projects within the ACTS program. Moreover, related standardization activities and network evolution are also addressed     

Service configuration and traffic distribution in composite radio environments

This paper adopts the assumption that cellular, broadband fixed wireless access (BFWA), wireless local area networks (WLAN), and digital video broadcasting (DVB) systems can be co-operating components of a composite-radio infrastructure. It is believed that through the composite radio concept, operators will be enabled to offer efficient, in terms of cost and QoS, wireless access to broadband IP-based services. The exploitation of this infrastructure calls for the application of computational intelligence (CI) technologies for the development of appropriate, sophisticated service and network resource management functionality. In this context, this paper identifies and addresses the important problem of service configuration and distribution in a composite radio environment (SCD-CRE). The problem's objective is to determine the best way to accommodate a demand volume, with which the composite radio infrastructure is faced. The pro finds the QoS levels that can be offered, and the networks that can support the demand at the selected QoS levels. The paper includes a first approach to the definition, mathematical formulation, and solution of a version of the SCD-CRE problem. Results indicating some of the capabilities of the SCD-CRE are also presented. Further application fields for CI technologies are indicated, in the area of the necessary reconfiguration of the managed, radio and fixed, network segments.     

LTE Part I: Core network

Current cellular networks based on Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and 3GPP2 technologies provide evolution from circuit-switched technologies, originally developed for voice communications, to packetswitched technologies. Next-generation networks need to deliver IP-based services (voice, video, multimedia, data, etc.) for all kinds of user terminals while moving between fixed (fiber, DSL, cable) and wireless (3GPP-based, 3GPP2-based, IEEE-based) access technologies, and roaming between various operator networks. Users expect the network to originate, terminate, and maintain a session while the user is moving and roaming. Services have to be delivered to users based on serving network functionality (quality of service [QoS], bandwidth, etc.), availability, and user preferences. The network and users must be protected through various authentication, encryption, and other security mechanisms at the access, network, and application layers. Mobility has to be provided through coordinated link, network, and application layer mobility mechanisms that ensure user expectations of service performance are met. Requirements on the radio technology include improved performance as well as reduced system and device complexity. 3GPP Release 8 specifies the architecture to meet the above requirements.     

IPv6-based dynamic coordinated call admission control mechanism over integrated wireless networks

Many wireless access systems have been developed recently to support users mobility and ubiquitous communication. Nevertheless, these systems always work independently and cannot simultaneously serve users properly. In this paper, we aim to integrate IPv6-based wireless access systems and propose a coordinated call admission control mechanism to utilize the total bandwidth of these systems to minimize the call blocking probabilities, especially the handoff call dropping probabilities. First, we propose an integrated hierarchical wireless architecture over IPv6-based networks to combine the wireless access systems including cellular systems (second-generation, General Packet Radio Service, or third-generation), IEEE 802.11 a/b/g WLAN, and Bluetooth. In the proposed architecture, mobile user can request a call with quality-of-service (QoS) requirements by any wireless network interfaces that can be accessed. When the proposed coordinated call admission control (CCAC) mechanism receives a request, it takes the QoS requirements of the incoming call and the available and reserved bandwidth of this wireless system into consideration to accept or reject this request. Besides, the mechanism can coordinate with other wireless systems dynamically to adjust the bandwidth reserved for handoff calls at each wireless system in this architecture so as to reduce the call blocking probabilities. Once the call is admitted, the mobile user is able to access heterogeneous wireless access networks via multiple interfaces simultaneously. Finally, we evaluate this system to show that the CCAC on the proposed architecture outperforms other mechanisms proposed before.     

IP化基站无线Mesh组网构架

无线网状网（WMN）融合了无线局域网（WLAN）和Ad Hoc网络的性能优势,具有容量大、速率高、覆盖范围广等特点,成为宽带无线接入的一种有效手段,可以灵活地应用于多种无线环境。目前,蜂窝移动通信系统中各基站间的有线连接,使得传统的蜂窝移动通信系统难以满足部署方便、成本低廉、高可扩展性、高可靠性等指标。为适应下一代移动通信网络扁平化、简单化的发展趋势,IP化基站的无线Mesh组网架构是可选方案之一。支持IP化基站自组织的关键技术包括按需的基站自组织技术、联合无线资源调度机制、路由技术、安全技术、网络管理技术等。     

5G mobile terminals with advanced QoS-based user-centric aggregation (AQUA) for heterogeneous wireless and mobile networks

In this paper we present an advanced QoS provisioning module with vertical multi-homing framework for future fifth generation (5G) mobile terminals with radio network aggregation capability and traffic load sharing in heterogeneous mobile and wireless environments. The proposed 5G mobile terminal framework is leading to high performance utility networks with high QoS provisioning for any given multimedia service, higher bandwidth utilization and multi-RAT capabilities. It is using vertical multi-homing and virtual QoS routing algorithms within the mobile terminal, that is able to handle simultaneously multiple radio network connections via multiple wireless and mobile network interfaces. Our 5G proposal is user-centric, targeted to always-on connectivity, maximal network utilization, maximal throughput, seamless handovers and performances improvement by using vertical multi-homing, as well as session continuity. The performance of our proposed mobile terminal framework for 5G is evaluated using simulations and analysis with multimedia traffic in heterogeneous mobile and wireless scenarios with coexistence of multiple radio access technologies, such as 3G, 4G as well as future 5G radio access networks.     

卫星通信无线宽带接入技术研究

无线接入技术是无线通信系统的核心技术之一,也是实现卫星组网,提高航天信息系统效率的关键技术。基于对当前卫星移动通信系统和地面移动通信系统的无线接入技术的现状分析,指出卫星移动通信无线接入面临的六大问题和发展趋势;提出基于连接标识的面向连接的卫星移动通信无线接口技术方案。该方案实现复杂度低,灵活性高,适应多种物理层技术,扩展性强,并且针对每一个业务连接具有不同的QoS保证。     

A survey of mobility management in next-generation all-IP-based wireless systems

Next-generation wireless systems are envisioned to have an IP-based infrastructure with the support of heterogeneous access technologies. One of the research challenges for next generation all-IP-based wireless systems is the design of intelligent mobility management techniques that take advantage of IP-based technologies to achieve global roaming among various access technologies. Next-generation wireless systems call for the integration and interoperation of mobility management techniques in heterogeneous networks. In this article the current state of the art for mobility management in next-generation all-IP-based wireless systems is presented. The previously proposed solutions based on different layers are reviewed, and their qualitative comparisons are given. A new wireless network architecture for mobility management is introduced, and related open research issues are discussed in detail.