Control theory based interface selection mechanism in Fixed-Mobile Converged network

With the explosion of mobile data traffic as well as mobile devices' capability of connecting simultaneously to different access networks, we consider the need to evolve from legacy networks towards Fixed-Mobile Converged (FMC) networks. In FMC architectures, access network selection becomes an issue when mobile devices are under the coverage of distinct technologies. However, a bad selection may lead to network congestion and quality of experience degradation for the end user. In order to deal with this problem, we model and analyze the interface selection procedure using the control theory in FMC architecture. Based on our model, we design a scalable controller, which can help in directing the selection decision of mobile devices in a way to optimize the network resource utilization. Numerical results demonstrate that the number of mobile devices in each access network can converge to the target network occupation, which optimizes network resource utilization while preventing the network overload.