Provision of QoS in wireless networks

With the advent of different types of wireless technologies a ´vertical multi-tier´ architecture is envisioned to provide the wireless user with seamless ´roaming´ across different types of networks. Wireless devices will be used not only for transferring data but also for voice and multimedia applications for which QoS (quality of service) support is essential. Different wireless technologies, like Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11 standards and 1x cellular standards, can be integrated at the network layer with the help of the IETF Mobile IP standard. Although there are existing QoS mechanisms, like DiffServ and IntServ, they are not directly applicable to wireless networks. Because of the inherent issues with TCP in wireless environments, it is proposed that RTP (real time protocol) over UDP (user datagram protocol) be used for designing the QoS framework for wireless computing. Open source applications that use RTP over UDP are being used for measuring the network characteristics for multimedia flows. The paper describes the approach being taken in order to provide a QoS solution for wireless networks.