An interface management framework for multihomed terminal

In this paper, we propose a framework to enhance user perceived quality in a multihomed terminal. Based on the observed media independent handover parameters from all the interfaces, the terminal is made aware of the performance of the different access networks and it can intelligently select the interface to send out the data packets. Several schemes, for the purpose of load balancing, are defined as policies to govern the terminal's outbound packet transmission over multiple network interfaces. Simulation results show that the proposed hybrid load balancing scheme outperforms the round robin schemes in terms of throughput, end-to-end delay, inter-packet delay variation and packet loss. The novel feature of this framework lies in the ability to intelligently exploit the multiple interfaces in data transmission to greatly enhance user's perceived quality from the use of media independent handover parameters.