On the analysis of WiFi communication and WiMAX network entry over single radios

Future wireless mobile devices will have to support a variety of heterogeneous access technologies while having a limited number of transceiver chains. One of the most challenging tasks remains how to support wireless access in one of the technologies, while preparing a “smooth transition” to another, especially to technologies with a lengthy network entry such as WiMAX. This work proposes an efficient way to organize a WiMAX network entry process while continuing a communication session with stringent QoS requirements via WLAN. We advocate the prioritization of the strict WiMAX timing over the contention-based WLAN channel access. Our results show the applicability of this approach over a wide range of mobile WiMAX parameters and identify bounds on the WiMAX downlink load for which the WiFi communication does not suffer quality distortions.