Abstract:
The next generation of mobile/wireless
communication systems is expected to include
heterogeneous broadband wireless networks that will
coexist and use a common IP core to offer a diverse
range of high data rate multimedia services to end
users with contemporary mobile devices that are
equipped with multiple network interfaces since the
networks have characteristics that complement each
other. This requires the provision of seamless vertical
handoff. This paper provides components of an
adaptive multiple attribute vertical handoff decision
algorithm that enables access network selection at a
mobile node. A performance study using the
integration of wireless wide area networks (WWANs)
and wireless local area networks (WLANs) as an
example shows that our proposed vertical handoff
decision algorithm is able to determine when a handoff
is required, and selects the best access network that is
optimized to network conditions, quality of service
requirements, user preferences, and service cost.
