The opportunity to transmit over multiple interfaces by a multi-mode device can benefit both the user and the network in terms of perceived quality and efficiency, respectively. Typically, the choice of the network interface through which the multi-mode mobile device has to transmit is taken by ad-hoc designed network entities. This leads to the definition of new interfaces and triggers for the communication between the networks composing the heterogeneous environment.
In this context, a distributed solution in which the terminal decides when and to which network to switch seams to be a good balance between complexity and reliability. The definition of techniques for gathering information that presently are not available within the terminal, e.g. load conditions of the networks andsessions quality assessment, is necessary to achieve such a goal.
The research goal of the project is to study techniques for the provision of the information needed for a multi-mode mobile device to select the most appropriate network interface to send/receive its traffic at each moment of the communication and of course, the definition of the interface selection algorithm itself.
