WLAN-WiMAX vertical handover hybrid satisfaction mechanism

Handover is the key enabling option to guarantee seamless mobility within any wireless communication system, where the inter-systems handover option has recently acquired large importance, both in the research and commercial fields. The motivation behind the vertical handover can be either based on the user demands to achieve larger data rates or lower service delays, but also it can be operator-based to balance the system load or to increase the system coverage. This paper presents a hybrid technique for vertical handover where both the operator satisfaction and the user satisfaction are concerned whenever a vertical handover is to be accomplished. Results are presented for the system behaviour with and without the proposed handover mechanism.