Vertical Handoff Decision Algorithm for UMTS-WLAN

The next generation of mobile/wireless communication systems is expected to include heterogeneous broadband wireless networks that will coexist and use a common IP core to offer a diverse range of high data rate multimedia services to end users with contemporary mobile devices that are equipped with multiple network interfaces since the networks have characteristics that complement each other. This requires the provision of seamless vertical handoff. This paper provides components of an adaptive multiple attribute vertical handoff decision algorithm that enables access network selection at a mobile node. A performance study using the integration of wireless wide area networks (WWANs) and wireless local area networks (WLANs) as an example shows that our proposed vertical handoff decision algorithm is able to determine when a handoff is required, and selects the best access network that is optimized to network conditions, quality of service requirements, user preferences, and service cost.