NXG04-2: A Negotiation-Based Network Selection Scheme for Next-Generation Mobile Systems

In order to support seamless mobility in next-generation overlapping wireless networks, we develop a novel network selection scheme, which decides an optimum network through discovering a tradeoff among users´ preferences, operators´ benefits, network conditions and application requirements. A merit function is defined to select the best possible network for a mobile user. A negotiation process between the user and the selected network operator is developed to guarantee the operator can obtain benefits from accepting the user´s handoff request. The network environment is formulated as a semi-Markov decision process (SMDP) in the negotiation process. An optimal policy that maximizes the network revenue without violating any quality-of-service (QoS) constraints is found by resolving the SMDP problem using Q-learning. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed network selection scheme enhances the performance in terms of handoff call-dropping probability (HCDP) and network revenue.