An Optimum Vertical Handoff Decision Algorithm for UMTS-WiMAX

The integration of diverse but complementary cellular and wireless technologies in the next generation of wireless communication systems requires the design of intelligent vertical handoff decision algorithms to enable mobile users to seamlessly switch network access and experience uninterrupted service continuity anywhere and anytime. This paper provides an adaptive multiple attribute vertical handoff decision algorithm that enables wireless access network selection at a mobile terminal using fuzzy logic concepts and a genetic algorithm. A performance study using the integration of wireless wide area networks (WWANs) and wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs) as an example shows that our proposed vertical handoff decision algorithm is able to determine when a handoff is required, and selects the best access network that is optimized to network conditions, quality of service requirements, mobile terminal conditions, user preferences, and service cost.