An IMS-based network architecture for WiMAX-UMTS and WiMAX-WLAN interworking

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) seems to be the technology that will prevail in Next Generation Networks (NGNs), since the interworking environment and the service flexibility that this technology offers to the currently deployed wireless broadband technologies makes it appealing to users, service developers and network operators. In this paper we propose a heterogeneous network model based on the IMS that integrates the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technologies and provides guaranteed QoS. We present the complete signalling flow concerning the authorization, registration, session set up and vertical handoff processes, as well as, an analytic model for cost analysis of the proposed architecture. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.