Book excerpt: Comprehensive Guide to Heterogeneous Networks discusses the fundamental motivations behind this cutting-edge development, along with a brief discussion on the diverse definitions of HNs. The future of heterogeneous wireless networks (HWNs) is covered, including test cases, cost configuration, economic benefits and basic challenges. Other sections cover the topology management method in context of heterogeneous sensor nodes with diverse communication and sensing range. In addition, an outline of the pros and cons of the clustering criteria in HWSNs and taxonomy are summarized and provide futuristic research directions. Final sections discuss the future evolution of HNs and their implementations in diverse applications. This is an essential reference book for advanced students on courses in wireless communications, clinical engineering and networking. It will also be of interest to researchers, network planners, technical mangers and other professionals in these fields. - Discusses the most important problems, challenges and issues which arise when designing real-time heterogeneous networks for diverse scenarios - Represents the unique features of heterogeneous sensor networks, giving the end-user a better understanding of the environment - Provides an overview of real-time performance issues in heterogeneous networks, specifically multi-tasking, multi-level scheduling, localization and security issues - Includes applications of heterogeneous networks in diverse fields and focuses on the convergence of heterogeneous wireless networks for 5G