A novel interface gateway architecture for seamless interoperability between 802.11e and 802.16e

In this paper a novel interoperability strategy and architecture is described that guarantees the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for applications originating in IEEE 802.11e based WLAN to a serving IEEE 802.16 based WirelessMAN and vice versa. The architecture for mapping QoS requirements makes use of inherent MAC layer convergence flexibilities available in these networks along with features of MAC layer bridging as specified by IEEE 802.1d and IEEE 802.1p. Elaborate simulations are performed on NS-2 platform to verify the efficacy of such an approach. The contribution of this work is especially significant because of its low complexity of implementation due to use of existing standards which makes it commercially feasible. The work also outlines the contribution in the perspective of addressing issues of last mile broadband connectivity to rural and sparsely connected regions of the developing world, especially India like demographic.