Impact of intelligent access selection algorithms in cooperative wireless networks

Future generation of wireless networks will solicit the cooperation of heterogeneous Radio Access Networks (RANs) in order to provide multimedia traffic to different classes of users with varying Quality of Service (QoS) requirements over regions and time zones. The use of such RANs as subsystems of a larger wireless network, i.e, a multi-access network, claims for an Access Selection (AS) scheme to coordinate the load sharing so as to meet the optimum combined network performance. Depending on the individual subsystem capacities, the traffic load conditions and the subsystem channel quality, an intelligent AS algorithm can provide capacities beyond the sum of the subsystems capacities. This paper addresses the issue of the AS in the context of multi-access networks. We intend to provide an analytical formulation which indicates the suitable/unsuitable scenarios for employment of an intelligent AS strategy. The usability of the proposed qualitative studies are demonstrated by means of simulations.