4G wireless networks: Benefits and challenges

The era of new wireless communications is upon us. Eventually it will penetrate into our daily life and change the way we live just like many technological innovations whose original research came from the military needs. In this paper, we investigate future wireless network especially in the hostile military environment. By combining two hottest wireless network topics, 4G (the fourth generation of cellular communication systems) and MANET (the Mobile Ad-hoc Network), we explore potentials as well as foreseeable challenges to the wireless communications in the future battlefield.

Mobility is one of the most invigorating features, having an enormous impact on how communication is evolving into the future. Mobility in 4G networks requires new level of mobility support as compared to traditional mobility. There is plenty of related research on mobility in next generation networks, which promises support for emerging ambient and ubiquitous communications. This paper aims to identify and explore the different issues and challenges related to mobility management in 4G heterogeneous networks. A review of the existing solutions and ongoing projects related to these mobility management issues is presented; which can help in discovering a unified approach to seamless mobility in future generation networks.