Proceedings of

VESCOMM-2016
4th NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON “RECENT TRENDES IN VLSI, EMBEDED SYSTEM, SIGNAL PROCESSING AND COMMUNICATION
In Association with “The Institution of Engineers (India)” and IJRPET
February 12th, 2016

Paper ID: VESCOMM 27

A SURVEY ON VERTICAL HANDOVERS FOR NEXT GENERATION
WIRELESS NETWORKS
Ajay Yelegaonkar Associate Prof. Sajid Shaikh
E&TC E&TC
S.E.S. Polytechnic, Solapur V.V.P.I.E.T, Solapur
Solapur, India Solapur, India
ajay_yelegaonkar@hotmail.com sajid0077@gmail.com

Abstract — Every user expects the best service network Figure 1: Horizontal and Vertical Handoff
rather than best connected network. Due to the various Horizontal handoff takes place between point of attachment
heterogeneous wireless network availability, users get a choice of supporting the same network technology e.g. between two
selecting the best service network, based on various preferences. neighbouring base stations. Vertical handoff takes place
Mobility is possible due to handoff process. 4G networks are
between points of attachment supporting different network
known for their seamless connectivity between existing networks
which include GSM, wireless LAN, Bluetooth etc. Such next technologies e.g. between an IEEE 802.11 access point and a
generation 4G networks are represented by heterogeneous cellular network base station [2]. Vertical handoff can be
environment with different access network technologies that vary initiated for convenience rather than connectivity reasons. The
in bandwidth, latency and cost. Seamless Connectivity in such main capabilities of Vertical handovers over Horizontal
networks entirely depends on efficient handoff mechanisms. In handovers are:
this paper we study various proposals of handoff decision 1. Vertical handovers use different access technology.
strategies. 2. Vertical handovers use multiple network interfaces.
3. Multiple IP addresses are used in Vertical handovers.
Keywords— Mobility, 4G Networks, handoff mechanism,
heterogeneous wireless networks.
4. QoS parameters can be changed in Vertical handovers and
multiple parameters are used.
5. Multiple network connections are used in Vertical
I. INTRODUCTION handovers.
The 4G networks would be heterogeneous in nature where
there would be multiple service providers, equipped with II. VERTICAL HANDOVER
varied technologies offering varied services for the benefit of A. Vertical Handoff Process:
the users. In 4G networks a mobile node in network could access A handover process can be split into three stages: handover
services and bandwidth offered by other service providers [1]. decision, radio link transfer and channel assignment [1].
Handoff or Handover is the process of maintaining user’s  Handover decision: This process involves the
active session when a mobile terminal changes its point of selection of the target point of attachment and the
attachment. Depending on point of attachment the handoff can time of the handover.
be either horizontal or vertical as expressed in Figure 1.  Radio link transfer: It is the task of forming links
to the new point of attachment.
 Channel Assignment: It deals with the allocation of
channel resources. VHD algorithms are useful in the
way that they help mobile terminals to choose the
best network to connect to among all the available
candidates.
B. Criteria for VHD:
In this literature several parameters have been proposed for
use in the VHD algorithms. We briefly explain each of them
below.
 Received signal strength (RSS): RSS is the one of
the mail criteria for VHD. The RSS is easy to
measure and it is directly related to the quality of
service. Majority of existing horizontal handover
algorithms use RSS as the main decision criterion,

Organized by Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, V.V.P.I.E.T, Solapur

1
 Proceedings of
VESCOMM-2016
4th NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON “RECENT TRENDES IN VLSI, EMBEDED SYSTEM, SIGNAL PROCESSING AND COMMUNICATION
In Association with “The Institution of Engineers (India)” and IJRPET
February 12th, 2016

and RSS is an important criterion for VHD inputs are used, it is usually very difficult or
algorithms as well. impossible to develop analytical formulations of
 Network connection time: For choosing the right handover decision processes. Due to this reason,
moment to trigger a handover, determining the researchers apply machine learning techniques to
network connection time is very important. Network formulate the processes.
connection time refers to the duration that a mobile e. Multiple Attributes Decision Making Based
terminal remains connected to a point of attachment. Algorithms: The multiple attributes decision making
 Available bandwidth: It is a measure of available based algorithm (MADMA) [20] calculates the
data communication resources expressed in bit/s. quantitative value of each normalized attribute and
 Power consumption: When mobile terminal’s evaluates the target systems through the weighted
battery is low the power consumption becomes function of the quantitative values, the final decision
critical issue. In such situations, it would be can then be made.
preferable to handover to a point of attachment which
f. Authentication Based Algorithms: Authentication
would help extending valuable battery life.
during handover is one of the main challenges. The
 Monetary cost: In some situations the cost of a
user has to execute multi-pass authentication
network service should be taken into consideration in
procedures in order to get access to the other
making handover decisions because for different
network. This causes overhead on the AAA server
networks, there would be different charging policies.
and increases the delay of authenticating the user and
 Security: A network with higher security level may that is because of unnecessary and repeated
be chosen over another one which would provide procedures and protocols. These algorithms provide
lower level of data security when confidentiality or proactive handover and authentication process that
integrity of the transmitted data can be critical. maintains QoS and reduces the handover delay.
 User preferences: A user’s personal preference
towards an access network could lead to the selection IV. VHD ALGORITHMS
of one type of network over the other candidates.
a. RSS Based VHD Algorithms:
III. CLASSIFICATION OF VHD ALGORITHMS In RSS based algorithms Received Signal Strength is the main
criteria. These types of VHD algorithms compare the RSS of
There are various ways to classify VHD algorithms [5]. VHD
the current point of attachment against the others to make
algorithms are divided into four groups based on the handover
handover decisions. The algorithm is proposed [17] for
decision criteria used and the methods used to process these
handover between 3G networks and WLANs by combining
are as follows:
the RSS measurements either with an estimated lifetime
a. RSS based algorithms: RSS is used as the main metric or the available bandwidth of the WLAN candidate.
handover decision criterion in this group. Various We can describe the method using following two scenarios.
strategies have been developed to compare the RSS In the first scenario, when the mobile terminal moves from the
of the current point of attachment with that of the coverage area of a WLAN into a 3G, a handover to the 3G
candidate point of attachment [3]. network is initiated. When RSS average of the WLAN
b. Bandwidth based algorithms: Available connection falls below a predefined threshold, and the
bandwidth for a mobile terminal is the main criterion estimated lifetime is less than or equal to the handover delay,
in this group [7]. In some algorithms, both bandwidth the handover is triggered. In the second scenario when the
and RSS information are used in the decision process mobile terminal moves towards a WLAN cell, the handover to
[3,17]. Depending on whether RSS or bandwidth is the WLAN is triggered if the average RSS measurements of
the main criterion considered, an algorithm is the WLAN signal are larger than a threshold and the available
classified either as RSS based or bandwidth based. bandwidth of the WLAN meets the bandwidth requirements of
c. Cost function based algorithms: This class of the application. An algorithm is proposed [4], between WLAN
algorithms combine metrics such as monetary cost, and 3G which is based on comparison of the current RSS and
security, bandwidth and power consumption in a cost a dynamic RSS threshold when a mobile terminal is connected
function, and the handover decision is made by to a WLAN access point. The dynamic RSS threshold is useful
comparing the result of this function for the candidate in the way that it reduces the incidences of false handover
networks [4,11,18]. Different weights are assigned to initiation and keep the handover failures below a limit.
different input metrics depending on the network To eliminate the unnecessary handovers which is introduced
conditions and user preferences. in the above method, a travelling distance prediction based
algorithm [4] is developed. The algorithm considers the time
d. Combination algorithms: These VHD algorithms the mobile terminal is expected to spend within the cell. The
attempt to use a richer set of inputs than the others for method relies on the estimation of WLAN traveling time (i.e.
making handover decisions. When a large number of time that the mobile terminal is expected to spend within the

Organized by Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, V.V.P.I.E.T, Solapur

2
 Proceedings of
VESCOMM-2016
4th NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON “RECENT TRENDES IN VLSI, EMBEDED SYSTEM, SIGNAL PROCESSING AND COMMUNICATION
In Association with “The Institution of Engineers (India)” and IJRPET
February 12th, 2016

WLAN cell) and the calculation of a time threshold. A requests is increased and handover blocking probability is
handover to a WLAN is triggered if the WLAN coverage is reduced. Cost function based handover decision algorithm
available and the estimated traveling time inside the WLAN with normalization and weight distribution is proposed in
cell is larger than the time threshold. The main advantage of which the normalization and weights distribution methods are
this method is that it minimizes handover failures, unnecessary provided [4]. A network quality factor is used to evaluate the
handovers and connection breakdowns however increased performance of a handover target candidate. With the help of
handover delay is introduced. this method high system throughput and user’s satisfaction is
achieved. A weighted function based algorithm which
b. Bandwidth Based VHD Algorithms: delegates the VHD calculation to the visited network instead
In these type of algorithms the available bandwidth is the main of the mobile terminal. The network candidate with the
criteria for the handover. A QoS based algorithm is proposed highest weight function is selected as the handover target. The
[6], which takes residual bandwidth and user service advantage of this method is handover decision delay is
requirements into account in deciding whether to handover reduced, low handover blocking rate and high throughput.
from a WLAN to Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) and
vice versa. The algorithm also takes the state of the mobile d. Multiple Attributes Decision Making Based Algorithms:
terminal into consideration. If the mobile terminal is in the idle The multiple attributes decision making based algorithm
state, a handover to the preferred access network is performed; (MADMA) calculates the quantitative value of each
otherwise the handover decision is based upon the user normalized attribute and evaluates the target systems through
application type. This method is able to achieve high the weighted function of the quantitative values, the final
throughput as the available bandwidth is considered as the decision can then be made. In Simple Additive Weighting
main criteria for VHD. Also by taking application types into (SAW) based MADM [6], different factors are assigned
account, lower handover latency for delay-sensitive different weights which could be dynamically adjusted
applications is achieved. To improve the overall system according to network state and various user services,
throughput an algorithm is developed between WLAN and therefore, it is possible to guarantee different user QoS
Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), which requirement and improve the performance of the whole
takes into consideration the Signal to Interference and Noise network meanwhile. Gray Relation Analysis Based Algorithm
Ratio (SINR). The SINR calculation of the WLAN signals is (GRAA) is an analytical method to determine correlation
converted to an equivalent SINR to be compared with the degree of different factors based on the similarity and
SINR of the WCDMA channel. SINR based handovers can difference of factors represented by grey relational coefficient
provide users higher overall throughput than RSS based (GRC). GRC is applied to calculate the correlation of each
handovers since the available throughput is directly dependent candidate network with user current network and the candidate
on the SINR, and this algorithm results in a balanced load network with highest correlation of current network is chosen
between the WLAN and the WCDMA networks. However as handoff destination network. GRA can also be combined
these algorithms may also introduce ping-pong effect. To with other methods such as fuzzy logic and AHP to improve
reduce the unnecessary handovers a Wrong Decision the performance of vertical handover algorithm. GRAA is able
Probability (WDP) prediction based algorithm [2] is proposed. to analyze different system factors given only few data and the
In this method the probability of unnecessary and missing trend of system development can be measured quantitatively,
handovers is combined and WDP is calculated. thus GRAA is very suitable for dynamic network analysis,
This algorithm is able to reduce the WDP and balance the however, the computation complexity is large which limits the
traffic load. practical application.

c. Cost Function Based VHD Algorithms: e. Combination Algorithm:

The basic idea of a cost function based vertical handoff Combination algorithms combine various parameters in the
decision algorithm is to choose a combination of network and handover decision such as the ones used in the cost function
DE factors such as RSS, network covering area, available algorithms. These algorithms are based on artificial neural
bandwidth, service cost, reliability, security, battery power and networks or fuzzy logic. A VHD algorithm is developed based
DE mobility model, etc. and define a cost function based on on artificial neural networks (ANN) [8]. The mobile device
these factors to evaluate the performance of target networks. collects features of available wireless networks and sends
The handoff decision can then be made accordingly. them to a middleware called vertical handover manager
A multiservice based algorithm relies on a cost function which through the existing links. The vertical handover manager
calculates the cost of all possible target networks. In this consists of three main components: network handling
algorithm all the active applications are prioritized and then manager, feature collector and ANN training/selector. A
cost of each possible target network for the service with the multilayer feed forward ANN is used to determine the best
highest priority is calculated. This method is beneficial due to handover target wireless network available to the mobile
the use of cost function, also the percentage of user satisfied device, based on the user’s preferences. Fuzzy logic method

Organized by Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, V.V.P.I.E.T, Solapur

3
 Proceedings of
VESCOMM-2016
4th NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON “RECENT TRENDES IN VLSI, EMBEDED SYSTEM, SIGNAL PROCESSING AND COMMUNICATION
In Association with “The Institution of Engineers (India)” and IJRPET
February 12th, 2016

can be designed to solve vertical handoff problem with fuzzy helping to select the best available network as per the user’s
parameters. A fuzzy logic based algorithm is developed which preferences. However, they are mostly in the theoretical
is used to handle handovers between WLAN and UMTS. A analysis stage or still too complex for implementation.
pre-decision unit is used in this method. This algorithm is able Authentication based algorithms provide security also
to improve the performance by reducing the number of reduction is delay, packet loss and cost. So the computational
unnecessary handovers and avoiding ping-pong effect. power of handsets should be improved to implement several
VHD algorithms in a handset and adopt adaptive methods that
f. Authentication Based Algorithms: choose an algorithm intelligently based on conditions and user
In NGN, security is considered as one of the most challenging preferences.
problems introduced by mobile networking. User mobility
increases the risk of illegal users masquerading as legal users.
So there is a need that the handover process should provide References
security as well as authentication scheme. Also it should be
able to reduce the authentication delay during the handover [1] Sarla More, Dr.Durgesh Kumar Mishra, “4G Revolution: WiMAX
process. An authentication scheme for fast handover between Technology”, Professor and Head Department of Computer science and
EngineeringThakurShivkumar Singh Memorial Engineering College
WI-Fi access points is proposed, in which the author has used Burhanpur, India 2010.
the EAP-SIM (Extensible Authentication Protocol). The [2] NidalNasser, “Handoffs in Fourth Generation Heterogeneous Networks”
scheme uses the pre-authorization and it eliminates the need University of GuelphAhmedHasswa and HossamHassanein, Queen’s
for communication with the remote server when the handover University2010.
actually takes place. This scheme is capable of reducing the [3] S. Mohanty, I.F. Akyildiz, A cross-layer (layer 2 + 3) handoff
management protocol for next-generation wireless systems, IEEE
authentication delay and the linear dependency on the RTT Transactions on Mobile Computing 5 (10) (2006) 1347–1360.
(round trip delay) between the AP and the authentication [4] X. Yan, N. Mani, Y.A. S_ekercioglu, A traveling distance prediction
server is also broken. In [9], the author has proposed a holistic based method to minimize unnecessary handovers from cellular
approach that eliminates the repeated steps of authentication networks to WLANs, IEEE Communications Letters 12 (1) (2008) 14–
without affecting the security level, to optimize QoS 16.
parameters during handover. In this method a valid certificate [5] Xiaohuan Yan, Y. Ahmet S ekercioglua,, Sathya Narayanan “A survey
of vertical handover decision algorithms in Fourth Generation
is issued at the time of registration of MN with AAA server. heterogeneous wireless networks” ―Department of Electrical and
This valid certificate is in consensus with all the service Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne,
providers which will be unique and valid for each network. Victoria, Australia 2010.
This method reduces the number of repetitions which will save [6] Lahby Mohamed, Cherkaoui Leghris and Adib Abdellah, Network
Selection Decision Based on Handover HistoryinHeterogeneous
the bandwidth, time and cost. Reduction is handover latency, Wireless Networks,International Journal of Computer Science and
packet loss and cost is obtained. Telecommunications Volume 3, Issue 2, February 2012.
[7] K. Yang, I. Gondal, B. Qiu, L.S. Dooley, Combined “SINR based
V. CONCLUSION vertical handoff algorithm for next generation heterogeneous wireless
In RSS based algorithms the RSS is considered as the main networks”, in: Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE Global
Telecommunications conference (GLOBECOM’07), Washington, DC,
criteria. In terms of complexity the RSS based algorithms are USA, November 2007, pp. 4483–4487.
the simplest algorithms. In bandwidth based algorithms the [8] N. Nasser, S. Guizani, E. Al-Masri, “Middleware vertical handoff
RSS is combined with bandwidth, these algorithms are also manager: a neural network-based solution”, in: Proceedings of the 2007
simple. In terms of complexity the cost function based, IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC’07), Glasgow,
Scotland, June 2007, pp. 5671–5676
combination, MADMA and authentication based algorithms
[9] Ganti,S. Ambudkar, B.,”Fast Authentication During Handover In NGN”,
are more complex as more parameters are taken into International Conference on Communication Systems and Network
consideration. Combination algorithms combine various Technologies (CSNT), 2012
parameters to determine the target network for handover

Organized by Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, V.V.P.I.E.T, Solapur