Policy-based QoS-management architecture in an integrated UMTS and WLAN environment

Strong demands for public wireless broadband services will require more capacity than even that can be,supplied by advanced mobile cellular systems like the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System. The increasing popularity of WLANs has prompted mobile network operators to consider their deployment in high-density usage areas like indoor/outdoor public hotspots to provide complementary broadband access to their UMTS networks. In order to provide consistent QoS control over an integrated UMTS and WLAN system, a policy-based multidomain QoS management architecture is proposed in this article. Different UMTS-WLAN interworking scenarios are discussed to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed architecture.