Virtual wireless user: A practical design for parallel multiconnect using WiFi direct in group communication

Abstract

Several MultiConnect technologies are actively discussed in research today. MultiPath TCP (MPTCP) is capable of splitting one flow into subflows and balance the load across multiple access technologies. Multihoming is an older technology that makes it possible for network providers to balance load across multiple upand down-links dynamically. Finally, Software Defined Networking (SDN) achieves the ultimate flexibility of connection and routing decisions. However, none of these technologies enable true (network or otherwise) resource-pooling in communications within arbitrary size user groups such as occur in meetings, class discussions, and ad-hoc communities in the wild. This paper proposes the concept of a Virtual Wireless User (VWU) which represents the entire group and appears as single user to an over-the-network service. Each group member is capable of MultiConnect using Wi-Fi Direct in parallel with any other connection method. Modeling based on real measurements shows that VWUs can achieve throughput in the order of tens of Mbps even if throughput of individual users is very low. The paper also formulates a formal optimization problem in relation to VWU.