A Methodology for Estimating cost and Performance of Heterogeneous Wireless Access Networks Special Session Paper

Wireless access to the Internet will in the future be facilitated by "multi-radio" user terminals that automatically select between available radio access methods. In order to provide affordable wireless data access services an operator could then deploy heterogeneous networks to better match network deployment to traffic demand and fully exploit available infrastructure and radio spectrum. We have previously proposed a methodology for analyzing the total cost and performance of such systems, composed of multiple base station classes and radio access technologies with different cost and technical characteristics, and this work is summarized in this paper. Models and assumptions are outlined and we demonstrate how the methodology can be applied for different combinations of cellular and wireless local area network systems. In conjunction with more specific input data the methodology should be useful for researchers and decision makers as a means to quantify the economics of heterogeneous wireless access networks.