Interference aware vertical handoff decision algorithm for quality of service support in wireless heterogeneous networks

Next generation wireless networks concept aims at collaboration of various radio access technologies in order to provide quality of service (QoS) supported and cost efficient connections at anywhere and anytime. Since the next generation wireless systems are expected to be of heterogeneous topology, traditional handoff (horizontal handoff/handover) mechanisms are not sufficient to meet the requirements of these types of networks. More intelligent vertical handoff algorithms which consider user profiles, application requirements, and network conditions must be employed in order to provide enhanced performance results for both user and network. Moreover, frequency reuse of one (FRO) seems to be the strongest candidate of deployment options for next generation wireless networks: therefore, interference conditions gains a significant attention in vertical handoff decision making process. In this study, a fuzzy logic-based handoff decision algorithm is introduced for wireless heterogeneous networks. The parameters; data rate, received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and mobile speed are considered as inputs of the proposed fuzzy-based system in order to decide handoff initialization process and select the best candidate access point around a smart mobile terminal. Also, in contrast to the traditional fuzzy-based algorithms, the method proposed takes ambient interference power, which is referred to as interference rate, as another input to the decision process. The results show that the performance is significantly enhanced for both user and network by the method proposed. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.