Cost-Function-Based Network Selection Strategy in Integrated Wireless and Mobile Networks

Any single type of existing wireless and mobile network cannot provide all types of services, e.g., wide coverage and high bandwidth. An integrated wireless and mobile network is introduced by combining different types of networks to provide more comprehensive services. In an integrated wireless and mobile network, a mobile terminal equipped with heterogeneous network interfaces can connect to different types of networks. Therefore, how to select a desired network is an important issue in the integrated wireless and mobile network. Although some network selection strategies have been proposed, most of them are designed to meet users´ needs, such as bandwidth, money cost, or power consumption. Also, the system performance has not been touched. In this paper, we propose a cost-function-based network selection (CFNS) strategy in an integrated wireless and mobile network from system´s perspective. We also analyze the system performance of the proposed strategy using theoretical model and simulations. The results show that the proposed network selection strategy affects multiple system parameters, which needs to be handled carefully.