  In this paper, an application-based QoS evaluation approach for heterogeneous
networks is proposed.It is possible to expand the network capacity and coverage
in a dynamic fashion by applying heterogeneous wireless network architecture.
However, the Quality of Service (QoS) evaluation of this type of network
architecture is very challenging due to the presence of different communication
technologies. Different communication technologies have different
characteristics and the applications that utilize them have unique QoS
requirements. Although, the communication technologies have different
performance measurement parameters, the applications using these radio access
networks have the same QoS requirements. As a result, it would be easier to
evaluate the QoS of the access networks and the overall network configuration
based on the performance of applications running on them. Using such
application-based QoS evaluation approach, the heterogeneous nature of the
underlying networks and the diversity of their traffic can be adequately taken
into account. Through simulation studies, we show that the application
performance based assessment approach facilitates better QoS management and
monitoring of heterogeneous network configurations.
