ABSTRACT

BANDWIDTH AGGREGATION IN HETEROGENEOUS WIRELESS NETWORKS

Wireless networks are envisaged to consist of a variety of integrated and

jointly managed radio access technologies (RATs). This is motivated by the
complementary features of the individual RATs. When in the overlapping coverage of
the integrated RATs, a multimode terminal can use them simultaneously, thus
aggregating bandwidth to enhance performance of high-bandwidth applications.
However, there are challenges that must be addressed to achieve efficient
bandwidth aggregation. Packet reordering is the most dominant challenge. Packet
reordering can lead to excessive delays that can affect real-time applications; it can
also affect throughput of TCP applications adversely. To circumvent the reordering
problem and other challenges associated with simultaneous use of the terminals
multiple interfaces, bandwidth aggregation solutions are developed.
This project reviews existing bandwidth aggregation solutions in
heterogeneous wireless networks. Challenges and several open research issues in
the design of bandwidth aggregation approaches are also outlined. To the best of
our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive review of existing bandwidth
aggregation techniques in heterogeneous wireless networks. This project, therefore,
provides important lessons and information from current bandwidth aggregation
solutions, which can be used to guide the development of more efficient bandwidth
aggregation approaches.