A flexible framework for the support of heterogeneous wireless networks

Next generation networks will include a diversity of wireless technologies for the network access. In the DAIDALOS project, an architecture that provides seamless QoS support, mobility, security and multicast, among other features, is being designed for such a heterogeneous wireless environment. This paper focuses on the wireless QoS part of this architecture: it is a modular architecture consisting of an the Abstraction Layer, which provides a generic interface to the upper layers and handles the technology independent functionality, and the Abstraction Layer Drivers, which implement the technology specific QoS functions. Abstraction Layer Drivers have been developed for the technologies 802.11, 802.15.1, 802.16 and TDCDMA. The architecture further includes a source channel adaptation module that, by adapting the amount of resources reserved to the characteristics of the wireless channel, allows maximizing the overall performance of the wireless network.