Load-aware Based Independent Information Services for Heterogeneous Handover

The heterogeneity of multiple radio access technologies (RATs) is a key characteristic for next generation mobile network (NGMN) as there is no single existing legacy RAT that provides ubiquitous services to mobile users. Therefore, the problem for mobile services over heterogeneous networks lies in how the on-going sessions can be maintained using seamless handover when a mobile node (MN) moves across network boundaries. In this paper we propose a network-assisted terminal-controlled handover scheme by implementing the chord-based decentralized IEEE 802.21 media independent information service (MIIS) server to accelerate the process of collecting network-related information. Furthermore, we include a load-aware network capacity estimation algorithm in our network selection scheme to estimate the network capacity separately at the terminal. Simulations show that the proposed handover scheme improves the handover performance in terms of packet loss rate, throughput and handover delay. Finally, we also give a performance evaluation on the lookup delay of the proposed chord-based decentralized MIIS servers.