6533b836fe1ef96bd12a19da

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Handover management in heterogenous mobile and wireless networks

subject

description

Since 1990, networking and mobile technologies have made a phenomenal unprecedented progress. This progress has been experienced on multiple fronts in parallel; especially on the application level and the user's needs one. This rapid evolution of the technology imposed a need for the existence of heterogeneous environments where the coverage is ensured throughout the different available networks. The challenge with such architecture would be to provide the user with the ability to navigate through the different available networks in a transparent and seamless fashion. However, the navigation among different types of networks is commonly referred to as vertical Handover. The IEEE 802.21 standard offers a component that is called Media Independent Handover (MIH) which has a function that provides the capability of transmitting the state of the connection of the mobile nodes from the lower to upper layers. This layer would exist between layer 2 and layer 3 within the protocol architecture. The main role of MIH is to help the mobile node transfer without interrupt among different types of networks, but the logic of selection is left without implementation. In this context, we worked on the improvement of the Handover management by proposing a new architecture, called VHMC and based on MIH by offering new methods for selecting the destination network. The first solution is a new algorithm called Multiple Criteria Selection Algorithm (MCSA) based on multiple parameters of the quality of service. We used Network Simulator (NS2) for testing our approach and study the number of lost packets and lost time during Handover. The second solution is a new model for selecting the destination network based on fuzzy logic techniques. The distinctive characteristic of this model lies in the study of genuine Handover records taken from a Lebanese mobile operator called "Alfa". A third proposed solution for network selection is based on multiple linear regression theory.