A new routing mechanism for integrating cellular networks, WLAN hot spots and MANETS

A growing need for ubiquitous connectivity has motivated the integration of various wireless technologies such as cellular systems, WLANs and MANETs. In this paper we introduce the integrated routing protocol (IRP) that exploits topology information obtained by cellular base stations and WLAN access points in the route discovery and maintenance in a heterogeneous wireless access network. IRP also provides connectivity to the cellular network and/or WLAN hotspots through the multi-hop routing by allowing out of coverage users to maintain routes to Gateway Nodes (GN). We provide a simulation study of IRP with two different link quality metrics, number of hops and a new integrated metric based on the expected transmission time (ETT). Our results show that IRP improves the network coverage and capacity and allows connectivity alternatives that are not supported by other integrated solutions.