An approach to handover between DVB-H and Wi-Fi networks

Recently, DVB-H mobile television standard was completed and has now entered the deployment stage. Being an IP-based broadcast network, DVB-H contributes to providing multimedia experience for mobile TV users. However, they are still big challenges to face because of the strict "anytime, anywhere" user\´s expectation. For example, when the mobile receiver is located near to the border of the coverage area, inside building or in obscure zones, the user is still expecting to receive the selected service without an interrupt. Being so widely deployed and relatively cheap, Wi-Fi is a very good candidate to provide the extra coverage required to DVB-H network. This paper presents an AHP based network selection system enabling mobile device to execute handover between DVB-H and Wi-Fi network. We have successfully simulated and tested our approach and we are able to handover between the two technologies while maintaining constant service connectivity, thus improving user experience.