Autonomic Interface Selection for Mobile Wireless Users

We address the problem of self-configuration of user stations in a wireless environment with overlapping coverages. We propose and investigate a solution operating on top of the transport layer [called Autonomic Interface SeLEction (AISLE)] that exploits nodes featuring multihoming capabilities, i.e., with more than one network interface. Our solution is independent of the technology used at the physical and medium access control (MAC) layers. To evaluate the performance of AISLE, we first analytically derive the optimal way in which mobile stations should partition across multiple overlapping wireless networks, and we then verify through simulation the AISLE ability to achieve the optimal station partitioning. Different scenarios are considered, which include the case of heterogeneous networks, such as 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs) and third-generation (3G) cellular networks, with stations moving across an area with different degrees of overlapping coverages, as well as the case of heterogeneous stations, in which only some stations adopt AISLE.