multiconnectivity

Multiconnectivity refers to the ability of a device to maintain simultaneous connections over multiple network paths or interfaces, often spanning different technologies such as cellular, Wi-Fi, and satellite. The goal is to increase reliability, aggregate bandwidth, and improve mobility by enabling data to be transmitted across more than one link at once or to switch seamlessly between links as conditions change.

There are several architectural approaches. At the transport or device level, multipath protocols such as Multipath TCP can bind several network paths into a single logical connection. At operator and network levels, coordinated multi-connectivity uses multiple access networks under a unified control plane to provide parallel bearers and seamless handover. In practice, this often involves coordination between cellular networks and WLANs, sometimes described as carrier aggregation or inter-technology aggregation.

Standardized variants include 3GPP dual connectivity, EN-DC (NR with LTE) and LTE-WLAN Aggregation (LWA). These approaches differ in where data paths are anchored and how control signaling is distributed, but all aim to deliver data over multiple paths in a coordinated manner.

Benefits include higher aggregate throughput, improved resilience to individual link failures, lower latency for certain traffic, faster handovers, and better coverage in heterogeneous networks. Multiconnectivity can also support more reliable connectivity for mission-critical and real-time applications.

Challenges involve increased signaling and scheduling complexity, QoS management across heterogeneous paths, energy consumption on user devices, security concerns, and interoperability among vendors and operators.