Efficient and QoS Guaranteed Data Transport in Heterogeneous Wireless Mobile Networks

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate and develop an efficient and seamless data transport protocol for a heterogeneous wireless mobile network. In next-generation network, most of heterogeneous wireless mobile networks will be combined and complementarily constitute a hierarchical network. To integrate different networks, many challenging issues should be solved. In this thesis, an efficient and seamless data transport mechanisms are explored.

We investigate the problems that the current transport control protocol (TCP) will experience within the heterogeneous mobile network. In a heterogeneous network, a mobile host experiences drastic changes in network condition during a session. Traditional TCP struggles with abrupt network changes by intersystem handoff and cannot work efficiently in this environment. We propose a TCP scheme to be tailored to the heterogeneous mobile network to support seamless data transport. In the proposed scheme, a TCP is informed the impending handoff events and works differently based on a handoff type. Simulation results present the proposed algorithm improves throughput, stabilizes data transmission rapidly, and provides a seamless data transfer.

We also propose an adaptive resource management scheme within a 3G cellular network based on a users priority level to reduce the call dropping and blocking rates. In a heterogeneous network, a network that provides smaller bandwidth may struggle with handed-off calls being served with a higher bandwidth. Therefore, a resource management algorithm should be defined so that an ongoing call is not dropped by a handoff and provides seamless data transfer. We propose an adaptive resource management scheme based on downgrading the quality of some existing services in a 3G cellular network. We analyze the system capacity, call blocking rate and call dropping rate of the proposed algorithm, and simulate the performance variation of the downgraded traffic. The results show that the proposed scheme increases system capacity, and decreases the call dropping rate at the cost of small delay of the downgraded data traffic.