Paper title

“Performance of UMTS/WLAN Integration at Hot-Spot Locations Using OPNET”

Authors: Marwan Abu-Amara, Ashraf Mahmoud, Tarek Sheltami, Adel Al-Shahrani, Khalid Al-Otaibi, S.M.Rehman, and Taha Anwar
Affiliation
: Department of Computer Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT — Due to the many benefits provided by both the third-generation (3G) mobile networks and the IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs), it is desirable to integrate both types of networks. While studies specifying generic integration architectures are abundant, there are little or no studies that are dedicated for applications performance over such heterogeneous networks. Using simulations, this paper evaluates the performance of two 3G/WLAN integration schemes: loose and open coupling, together with two mobility management schemes: Mobile IP and mobile stream control transmission protocol (mSCTP) for an airport as a typical example of a hot-spot location. In addition, the evaluation is carried out for a wide range of application mixes consisting of FTP, HTTP and multimedia. Utilizing OPNET as the simulation platform and incorporating the required protocols to support our implementation of the Mobile IP and mSCTP, we generate a large matrix of performance figures for the 4 network configurations under all applications mixes considered. The results summarized in this paper indicate that integration methods considered have little impact on the application mixes studied in terms of delay but show that FTP and HTTP throughput is better with loose coupling scheme. Further, quantifying the handoff delay between the 3G and WLAN networks, the results indicate that a loose-couple integration solution together with Mobile IP provides the best performance.