Multicast bearer selection in heterogeneous wireless networks

Network scenarios beyond 3G assume the cooperation of operators with wireless access networks of different technologies in order to improve scalability and provide enhanced services to their mobile customers. While the selection of an optimised delivery path in such scenarios with multiple access networks is already a challenging task for unicast delivery, the problem becomes more severe for multicast services, where a potentially large group of heterogeneous receivers has to be served simultaneously via shared resources. In this paper we study the problem of selecting the optimal bearer paths for multicast services with groups of heterogeneous receivers in wireless networks with overlapping coverage. We propose an algorithm for bearer selection with different optimisation goals, demonstrating the existing tradeoff between user preference and resource efficiency.