User performance gains by data offloading of LTE mobile traffic onto unlicensed IEEE 802.11 links

Today, one of the most engaging challenges for mobile operators is the question how to manage the data traffic in mobile networks which is increasing exponentially; mainly due to the growing popularity of applications for mobile devices. Mobile data offloading represents the idea of cost-efficient technology to release the overloaded parts of RAN in cellular networks. This emerging solution introduces the concept of offloading the mobile data from primary cellular communication technology to the IEEE 802.11 infrastructure with aim to gain extra capacity (higher throughput) and improve the overall network performance and user experience. The strategy what, when and for how long to offload data from one communication system to another is non-trivial and therefore already active research in this domain should continue to find the answers for open questions. This paper addresses two the most discussed solutions for offloading between the LTE cellular network and WiFi when the performance needs/requirements exceed the threshold for providing the services via LTE network under an agreed-upon QoS (Quality of Services). In detail, the implementation of SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) threshold based handover and network throughput based handover solutions following the 3GPP standard for Access Network Discovery and Selection Function framework for WiFi offloading in simulation environment NS-3 is proposed. Our simulation results confirm that the concept when the SNR and throughput thresholds can be used to control the mobile data offloading process.