The Performance of WiFi Offload in LTE Networks

Currently, cellular networks are overloaded with mobile data traffic due to the rapid growth of mobile broadband subscriptions. The combination of Smartphones such as iPhones, netbooks and 3G/4G mobile networks are rapidly growing in very large numbers and as a result, this has created an exceptional demand for ubiquitous connectivity and quality of rich digital content and applications. To meet the requirements of future data-rich applications and terminals with improved multimedia, future wireless networks are expected to combine multiple access technologies and as a result mobile broadband operators are including WLANs like WiFi as an alternative access network technology. This enables solutions to offload traffic from the primary access technology to the WiFi access when applicable so as to provide extra capacity and improve overall performance. By offloading, it means that using alternative network technologies for delivering data originally targeted for e.g. cellular networks when it becomes saturated or when it exceeds its capability. In this work novel offloading algorithms are proposed and implemented, that decides when to move flow(s) between LTE and WiFi access networks.