Communet:a Practical Approach To Seamless Internet Connectivity For The Commuters

Abstract:Commuters’access to Internet on the go is limited by access through the widely available cellular network. However, booming usage of smart devices, users’increasing demand for more bandwidth and limited number of licensed wireless spectrums are choking the cellular communication infrastructure. Latest3G and4G cellular networks are expensive to setup which results in slow upgrade of the existing network and significantly more expensive data for the user. Moreover, the latest3G and4G cellular network technologies are energy hungry for both base stations and energy limited end user devices. These issues demand rapid implementation of a data network alternative to cellular network for Internet connectivity.The well established physical infrastructure and network of public transportation can be used as a base for the network to serve the rapidly growing trend of usage of mobile Internet by commuters. In this literature we propose Communet, novel heterogeneous network architecture, to use the public transport infrastructure and network for connecting commuters to Internet. Communet takes advantage of the well planned fixed route and regular nature of public transport network. Unlike mobile devices, public transports are not limited by energy, so they can be used as mobile gateways to connect the user devices to the Internet. User devices use widely available and user friendly NFC based transport payment network to get access and switch from cellular network to the Communet. User devices connect to the Communet using energy efficient yet fast802.11WiFi through mobile gateways in the transports (i.e. buses, trains, subways etc) or static gateways in the transport stations (i.e. bus stops, bus stations, train stations, subway stations etc). Mobile gateways connect to the central Internet gateway through dedicated and fast wireless technologies such as-Wimax micro cells (802.16) or DSRC (802.11p) implemented along with static gateways or in the suitable locations to cover the major routes providing uninterrupted network service. On the other hand, static gateways connect to the Internet gateway via fastest possible physical connection (i.e. fiber optic network, LAN etc.) available providing fast and low latency connection to mobile gateways and end user devices. In this literature, we describe the architecture of Communet step by step. We discuss possible solutions for connectivity at different levels. Then we analyze two major obstacles authentication, and connection handover and propose algorithms to solve the issues. We then evaluate their performance by simulating the algorithms. Finally, we compare the possible solutions in terms of energy consumption, latency, data rate and seamless behavior of the network to find out that Communet performs significantly better than today’s cellular network.