Taking advantage of the diversity in wireless access networks: On the simulation of a user centric approach

“Always Best Connected” or simply ABC concept has been introduced to express the possibility for mobile users to experience with smartphone/computer a continuity of service at any place any time. In this context, the aim of the fourth generation of wireless networks is to not only support high speed connection but also implement ABC taking benefit of the numerous underlying wireless technologies. For that, smart-phones should implement sophisticated access network selection mechanism to take benefit of this diversity. In our previous works, we have used the utility theory to propose several utility functions that measures the value of each access network vs. the preferences of the end users and we have shown how these preferences can be used by the user terminal to select the most appropriate access network. In this paper, we extend that work with the implementation of the solution in a simulator of heterogeneous access networks and perform a set of simulations to highlight the value added of the proposed solution. The obtained results show similar results as those obtained analytically and confirm the validity of the approach for the end users and the operators.