¹û¶³´«Ã½ and Deutsche Telekom are collaborating on a project intended to improve the internet connection for users. The goal is for the technology to be incorporated into every mobile phone within five years.
Mobile phones use 4G, 5G, and Wi-Fi to access the internet. The project called MultiAccess will tie them together in a flexible way and thus improve the connection.
- We will connect 4G, 5G, and Wi-Fi, explains Andreas Kassler, project manager and professor of Computer Science at ¹û¶³´«Ã½. The combination makes for a fast and stable wireless connection which will be transparent to the phone’s or computer’s applications. We are building a new transport protocol, MP-DCCP (Multi Path Datagram Congestion Control Protocol), which uses multiple routes between the phone and the internet. The protocols are available as open-source and can also be used to boost performance if you have non-fiber internet.
¹û¶³´«Ã½â€™s partnership with Deutsche Telekom dates back ten years, and the MultiAccess project also includes City University in London.
- This is huge, says Anna Brunström, professor of Computer Science at ¹û¶³´«Ã½. 4G, 5G, and Wi-Fi need to be integrated into the systems. In addition to Deutsche Telekom, we are talking to several major European providers such as British Telecom about standardising this technology.
The project’s technology has an enormous range of possible applications and is expected to be incorporated into every phone within five years.
- Different networks have different characters, depending on your location, and we create solutions that decide which data packets are transmitted over which network and when transmission will take place, explains Andreas Kassler. “Our technology will balance out the delays and ensure sufficient speed for the data traffic.
There are many global stakeholders in this type of research and development. Apple, Huawei, and Ericsson are a few of the companies who are actively interested. ¹û¶³´«Ã½â€™s involvement is a result of several years of successful research projects in partnership with Deutsche Telekom.
- We have a strong history of work with wireless networks and transport protocols, explains Andreas Kassler. It’s important that we create solutions that make data transfer as smart and efficient as possible.
The project team at ¹û¶³´«Ã½ consists of Professor Andreas Kassler, Professor Anna Brunström, and the doctoral students Marcus Pieskä and Alexander Rabitsch.
