Advanced WLAN integration with the 3GPP evolved packet core

The large growth in mobile broadband traffic, wide support of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology in mobile devices, and the desire of operators to provide services anywhere at any time, have led to a need to integrate WLANs with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Evolved Packet Core (EPC). This paper starts with a description of an architecture that 3GPP has defined to achieve this. It describes how a mobile device can set up an IP connection over WLAN routed via EPC without imposing new requirements on the mobile device. It also describes how more advanced features that do impose new requirements on the mobile device can be supported in an incremental fashion.