We investigate the potential of these new systems to supplement mobile networks of the second (2G) and third generation (3G) like GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS etc. in so called hot spot scenarios like airports, railway stations, urban places etc..

For this reason an inter-working of e.g. H/2 with cellular systems has to be provided. The user should be connected continuously to the IP-core-net, even if he leaves the H/2 hot spot. For this reason an inter-working of e.g. H/2 with cellular systems has to be provided. We investigate vertical handover mechanisms between different types of radio systems, based on improved MIP (Mobile IP) IETF protocols. WLAN systems like H/2 have been developed for indoor scenarios like office buildings or home networks and have only a limited transmission range of a few hundred meters typically.

One main topic of the project COVERAGE is to investigate multihop networks to increase the coverage area for one AP with only moderate infrastructure effort. As can be seen in Figure 1 the multihop network is build up by so called EPs (Extension Point) which forward data packets to/from the AP (Access Point) to/from the MTs (Mobile Terminal). The focus is on high performance solutions, i.e. with respect to overall throughput, capacity, spectral efficiency, QoS (Quality of Service), delay, etc. as we want to serve public users. For this reason the EPs are placed on fixed and planned locations to guarantee optimum coverage for the multihop network.

The duration of the project is from 2000-07-01 to 2003-06-30.