A generic mobile node architecture for multi-interface heterogenous wireless link layer

In this paper, we first propose a new and open architecture for mobile wireless nodes using multiple interfaces. This modular and flexible architecture aims to offer to industrial and research communities several possibilities to investigate and simulate multiple wireless protocol aspects, algorithms and issues. To validate our architecture and to show its advantages, we choose to implement a multiple interface WLAN protocol in the widely used OMNeT++ Discrete Event Simulator [1] based on the MMAC Protocol [2] and its derivatives [3]. While using multiple interfaces leads certainly to an enhancement of the entire network performance, the question remains to specify algorithms and mechanisms that realize a compromise between power consumption and performance efficiency (Throughput, End-to-End Delay). Secondly, we present a modified version of the PSM-MMAC Protocol [3] that we called the Adaptive ATIM Multi-Interface MAC Protocol (AA-MIMP). Using our proposed open architecture, we show that AA-MIMP realizes a substantial enhancement of QoS parameters and performances, yet demonstrating a substantial improvement of power consumption.