Mobile Internet access over intermittent network connectivity

Mobile Internet access is the key technology to enable vehicular infotainment applications such as downloading of maps and multimedia contents. Mobile Internet access through roadside APs has emerged as an alternative to cellular networks due to its high bandwidth and low cost. However, due to the sparse deployment of roadside APs, connectivity disruption might take place when vehicles travel between APs. In addition, the IP address will also change as the vehicle changes its attachment to the network. This creates problems to existing IP applications as they are not designed to handle connectivity disruption and change of address. Furthermore, as a vehicle travels at high speed, its contact with a roadside AP will be brief. It is necessary to effectively utilize such brief contacts. In this paper, we propose a MObile Network Access framework (MONA) to address these issues. MONA protects application connections from connectivity disruptions by introducing a Terminal Local Proxy (TLP) which splits application connections such that connectivity disruptions are transparent to the applications. By enabling cooperative relaying, MONA exploits opportunistic contacts for additional data transfer. Through simulation and numerical analysis, MONA is shown to be able to exploit both direct and indirect contact opportunities and delivers more than existing PCMP scheme. This shows MONA is a viable approach and it can serve as a complementing technology to various existing techniques and contribute to the development of a more complete solution for mobile Internet access.