Soft Computing-Based Schemes for Handover Management in Future Networks

The progression to next generation networks is replete with abundant co-existing technologies. To comply with the always best connected paradigm, several vertical handover decision approaches have been proposed in literature, using advanced techniques and tools. This paper discusses the application of soft computing techniques in the vertical handover decision-making process with emphasis on the state-of-the-art techniques. For a comprehensive evaluation, the algorithms are classified into three sets based on the soft computing technique used, namely fuzzy logic, machine learning, and evolutionary algorithms, and representative handover algorithms in each group are discussed. These papers are categorized in a well-defined structure to bring out their contribution, to underline the pretermitted notions, and to bring forth the emerging issues for future research. This paper summarizes the soft computing concepts and reviews its applications in candidate network selection, QoE enhancement, and reducing the unnecessary handovers.