An integrated WiMAX/WiFi architecture with QoS consistency over broadband wireless networks

WiMAX and WiFi have emerged as promising broadband access solutions for the latest generation of wireless MANs and LANs, respectively. Their complementary features enable the use of WiMAX as a backhaul service to connect multiple dispersed WiFi hotspots to the Internet. This study proposes an integrated architecture utilizing a novel WiMAX/WiFi Access Point (W²-AP) device to effectively combine the WiMAX and WiFi technologies. In the proposed architecture, the protocol operation of the WiFi hotspots is the same as that of the WiMAX system. As a result, the WiFi network can support connection-oriented transmissions and QoS in a similar fashion to the WiMAX system, and thus a considerable improvement in the delay performance is obtained. The numerical results obtained using a Qualnet simulator confirm both the effectiveness and the efficiency of the proposed architecture.