Reconfigurable Wireless Communication Systems applying Distributed Decision-Making in a Heterogeneous Radio Environment

This contribution presents the system concept approach introduced by the IEEE 1900.4 Working Group (WG) and discusses inherent advantages and issues. This effort targets reconfigurable (Software Defined Radio (SDR) based) networks and terminals in a heterogeneous wireless environment, with multi-homing capable terminals which enables them to operate several wireless links simultaneously. In order to ensure backwards compatibility to legacy standards, this approach introduces three new building blocks into the (existing and/or evolving) heterogeneous landscape: i) A Network Reconfiguration Management module, ii) a Radio Enabler and iii) a Terminal Reconfiguration Management module. Within this paper, the key functionalities of these building blocks are presented and discussed; it is furthermore shown how the introduction of distributed decision-making concepts improves the efficiency of the heterogeneous system in terms of i) signaling overhead, ii) reactivity of user mobile terminals (MTs) and iii) numerical resource selection optimization complexity on the network side.