A handover decision algorithm from LTE-advanced to Wireless Mesh Network

Using Wi-Fi hotspot is increasingly adopted by operators as it boosts network capacity. For that reason, several studies have been carried out to define the best approaches to route IP flows from LTE through Wi-Fi. In this paper, we investigate the IP flows handover problem from an LTE-A network to a Wireless Mesh network (WMN) owned by the operator. We propose a new handover decision algorithm hosted in the Packed Data Network Gateway (P-GW). It depends on the radio link contention, End to End delay and the traffic type. Simulation shows significant gain as the percentage of flows derived through the WMN reaches 100% for the first scenario and exceed 47% for the second one, which leads to decrease LTE-network congestion and allows the operator to deliver real time and non-real time services with a low cost solution.