Analyzing the quality of service of heterogeneous radio networks using IP layer statistics

This paper investigates how various radio channel interferences influence IP packet jitter and thus QoS in heterogeneous networks consisting of a serially connected LTE and WiFi segment. A lab environment was set up allowing to vary LTE channel models, received power and WiFi interference conditions independently. IP/UDP packets with fixed interpacket time were sent over an emulated network to a client, where IP packet jitter was analyzed allowing for an estimation of QoS. Investigation of the individual channels in comparison to a combination of both channels show that time distributions of received IP packets are quite typical for each network and interference case. Thus different issues in the network segments can be identified based on their typical behavior for a wide range of variations allowing to allocate QoS issues to the related segment with high probability.