A joint vertical handover technique for heterogeneous wireless networks

Fast and seamless handover are weighty issues in 3G systems. Based on UMTS and WLAN Converging architecture, a joint vertical handover decision strategy (jVHOD) was proposed for heterogeneous wireless networks. Also, several significant metrics were evaluated through a vertical handover performance model, which was validated by computer simulation. The analytical results showed that jVHOD had better performance than the conventional in terms of the number of handoffs and available bandwidth, but a little longer packet delay. To design optimal vertical handover strategies the application requirement threshold should be properly adjusted by an appropriate trade-off of related handover performance metrics.