Optimal vertical handover based on TOPSIS algorithm and utility function in heterogeneous wireless networks

Abstract

Currently, the deployment of 4G wireless networks such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-Advanced became a reality for different telecommunication operator's. This emergence allows the user to roam seamlessly from existing technologies such 3G or WiFi to 4G network, at anytime and anywhere. The main challenge lies in this heterogeneous networks is to determine the best access network for the end user in terms of quality of service (QoS) when the vertical handover process is needed. In this paper, we propose an optimal vertical handover approach based on multiple attributes decision making (MADM) algorithms and the utility function. The MADM algorithms are used to calculate the performance for each network according to each traffic class. Then we apply the utility function to represent the user's preferences on traffic classes to select the best access network. The simulation results demonstrate that our proposed approach can achieve a significant improvement concerning three parameters: the reversal phenomenon, the ping-pong effect and the number of handoffs failures.