Radio access technology

A Radio Access Technology or (RAT) is the underlying physical connection method for a radio based communication network. As of 2013, many modern phones such as the Nexus 4 or iPhone5 support several RATs in one device such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 3G, 4G or LTE.

The term RAT was traditionally used in mobile communication network interoperability, for example, in Virtej et al.,^[1] or in the example provided on the Wiki page for Radio access network.

More recently, the term RAT is used in discussions of heterogeneous wireless networks. The term is used when a user device selects between the type of RAT being used to connect to the Internet. This is often performed similar to access point selection in IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) based networks.^[2]

References

1. I. Virtej, S. Hamiti, T.A. Rantalainen, J. Parantainen, G. Sebire, E. Nikula (November 2001). "Radio resource control for GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN)-inter radio access technology and inter-mode procedures". 54th IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference – Proceedings. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
2. Melhem El Helou,Samer Lahoud, Marc Ibrahim, Kinda Khawam (April 2013). "A Hybrid Approach for Radio Access Technology Selection in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks". 19th European Wireless Conference -Proceedings. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2003. Retrieved 2013-10-07.