Cooperative Multiaccess for Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks: An Information-Centric Approach

Multiaccess wireless networks have emerged as an active research field but, until now, previous work has mainly centered on integrating wireless LANs with cellular networks. With mobile WiMAX deployments increasing, many expect fierce competition between 3GPP and WiMAX Forum mobile broadband technologies. We take a different approach in this paper and study cooperative multiaccess in an urban scenario, where mobile WiMAX and 3G cellular are used in a complemen- tary manner to deliver mobile video services. We position our work with respect to a novel information-centric approach in networking and evaluate through simulation the benefits arising from better management of multiaccess device capabilities in WMAN multimedia content distribution. In particular for the scenario we examine, we find that tapping on unused resources from different WMANs allows for significant increase in service delivery rates. Our results show that there is a lot to be gained by following a cooperative, rather than an antagonistic approach. I. INTRODUCTION Mobile and wireless multiaccess is a topic that has received significant attention lately. The availability of multiaccess devices is growing fast and, soon, devices that bundle cellular and wireless LAN (WLAN) network interfaces will be com- monplace. Meanwhile, urban areas are likely to be blanketed by overlapping broadband wireless access networks. Cur- rently, proprietary and non-IEEE standardized wireless MANs (WMANs) are available in some countries, and 3G/UMTS is the dominant mobile broadband technology. Country-wide mobile WiMAX and LTE deployments are expected in the coming years. In short, we anticipate that in the near future multiaccess mobile nodes will be able to access overlapping mobile WMANs, 3GPP cellular networks, and WLANs.