Abstract
Coupling of Wireless LANs like IEEE 802.11a/b or HIPERLAN/2 systems with Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMNs) like GSM or UMTS offers benefits for both operators and users. Coverage and capacity of an operator’s network can be extended with equipment expected to be considerably cheaper than for PLMN coverage. Thus, the operator can participate in the expected WLAN boom. Its customer experiences homogenous access to services with high data rate. PLMNs and WLANs should be considered as complementary systems: PLMNs provide universal coverage and high mobility support, while pico-cellular WLANs will be applied in hot spot areas, offering high data rates (up to about 45 Mbit/s/cell in HIPERLAN/2). Several levels of interworking are currently being defined by the relevant standardisation bodies. Tight and Very Tight Coupling integrate the WLAN into a unified Radio Access Network. But PLMNs and WLANs are based on different design philosophies. Chances, problems, and possible solutions are discussed in this paper.
The original version of this chapter was revised: The copyright line was incorrect. This has been corrected. The Erratum to this chapter is available at DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-35618-1_37
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Key words
References
GPP (TSG SA) TS 22.934 V.1.0.0: “Feasibility study on 3GPP system to Wireless Local Area ( WLAN) interworking”, March 2002.
J. Ala-Laurila, J. Mikkonen, J. Rinnemaa: “Wireless LAN Access Network Architectures for Mobile Operators,” IEEE Commun. Mag., Nov. 2001, pp. 82–89.
Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF): “The Book of Visions 2001”, http://www.wireless-world-research.org, Dec. 2001.
GPP (TSG RAN), TS 25.401 V3.8.0: “UTRAN Overall Description (Release 99)”, Sept. 2001.
ETSI; HIPERLAN Type 2; Data Link Control (DLC) Layer; Part 2: Radio Link Control (RLC) sublayer; TS 101 761–2 V1.3.1 (2002–01)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Litzenburger, M., Bakker, H., Kaminski, S., Keil, K. (2003). Very Tight Coupling of Wireless LANs and UMTS Networks: A Technical Challenge and an Opportunity for Mobile Operators. In: Omidyar, C.G. (eds) Mobile and Wireless Communications. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing, vol 106. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35618-1_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35618-1_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-1033-5
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-35618-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive