Adaptive Path Ranking Technique for Maximization of Gains of Bandwidth Aggregation over Heterogeneous Wireless Links

Bandwidth aggregation of heterogeneous wireless links faces numerous challenges in maximizing available connectivity services for mobile applications. One serious issue is the out-of-sequence arrival of packets at receiver that is amplified by distribution of packets of a flow over multiple paths. These packets experience asymmetric path characteristics that results in diverse congestion states for traffic flow. This paper presents an adaptive mechanism for estimation of path suitability for a specific type of flow on the basis of end-to-end path statistics of delay, packet drop and available bandwidth. The proposed mechanism is also supported by a stochastic model that estimates delay with lesser computational complexity. The results of proposed approach have been validated through simulation as well. The results have shown robust performance of proposed mechanism in achieving acceptable quality-of-service levels during mobility with minimized out-of-sequence reception and reduced buffer occupancy.