An efficient multicriteria‐based vertical handover decision‐making algorithm for heterogeneous networks

Abstract

Heterogeneous networks are designed to offload or route some of data traffics of mobile networks through other co‐located wireless access networks. This technique apparently increases the capacity of mobile network. In such networks, a vertical handover process plays an important role in providing seamless and uninterrupted connectivity as well as the required level of quality‐of‐service along with a wide coverage for all mobile nodes. Traditional vertical handover algorithms that are based on single criterion (eg, received signal strength) are not performing well in terms of excess handover rates, ping‐pong effects, handover delays, handover cost, etc. This research presents an efficient multicriteria‐based vertical handover decision‐making algorithm for heterogeneous networks. This algorithm uses a two‐step execution procedure, the first step evaluates whether the handover is needed or not before initiating a handover process, if needed, then a set of feasible solutions are generated for the vertical handover problem formulated as a multi‐objective optimization problem with two objective functions such as quality factor of networks and handover processing cost. In the second step, an optimal solution (ie, an appropriate access network) for handover is obtained using a hybrid approach of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). Our simulation study shows that the proposed algorithm performs well as compared to some other existing algorithms (ie, single‐criterion based, multicriteria with AHP, multicriteria with TOPSIS, and multicriteria with both AHP and TOPSIS) in terms of performance metrics such as handover rate, delay, cost, and energy consumption.

Reducing unnecessary handovers and improving ranking abnormality based on multi‐attribute decision making graph theory and matrix approach with Euclidean distance in heterogeneous wireless networks

“…1,3,5,7,8,10,11,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] The handover triggering has not been utilized in existing techniques 3,5,7,8,10-12,14-16,18-20 which leads to unnecessary handovers. The key parameters such as throughput, 1,3,5,11,13,15,17,19 price, 1,10,11,[13][14][15]17,19,20 packet loss rate, 11,[13][14][15]17,19,20 delay 1,11,[13][14][15]17,19 and jitter 11,14,15,[17][18]…”

“…The key parameters such as throughput, 1,3,5,11,13,15,17,19 price, 1,10,11,[13][14][15]17,19,20 packet loss rate, 11,[13][14][15]17,19,20 delay 1,11,[13][14][15]17,19 and jitter 11,14,15,[17][18][19] are not considered while making handover decision. The basic performance metric of MADM methods such as number of handovers 12,15,16,19 and ranking abnormality 1,5,11,[13][14][15]17,19,20 are not analyzed. The performance of the proposed technique is not compared with the traditional MADM methods such as A...…”

“…Throughput (TH) is defined as the amount of data (in terms of packets/ bits/ bytes) successfully delivered from the sender to the receiver per unit time. Throughput is considered as the important factor in case of streaming traffic [27][28][29][30] and computed using Equation (17).…”

“…Thus, the MADM method can be utilized for the selection of the best network from all the available alternative networks on the basis of the multiple parameters. 1 Various MADM methods 1,[3][4][5]7,8,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] have been proposed by the researchers in the literature to handle and optimize the vertical handover problems.…”

“…Various researchers have proposed different approaches in literature, which includes MADM methods 3,4,7,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] and MADM in combination with fuzzy-logic 6,13 to improve the issues involved in mobility management such as handover triggering 1,13 reducing the number of handovers, and ranking abnormality. 3,4,7,8,[10][11][12] From the literature, it is observed that resolving unnecessary handovers and ranking abnormality is still a challenging issue in this field.…”