Transferring a huge amount of data between different network locations over the network links depends on the heterogeneous wireless network. Such a network consists of several networks with different access technologies. Traditionally, a mobile device may be moved to achieve the operations of vertical handover, considering only one criterion, that is, the received signal strength (RSS). The use of a single criterion may cause service interruption, an unbalanced network load, and an inefficient vertical handover. In this paper, we propose enhanced vertical handover decision algorithm based on multiple criteria in the heterogeneous wireless network. The algorithm consists of three technology interfaces: Long-Term Evolution (LTE), Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). It also employs three types of the vertical handover decision algorithms: equal priority, mobile priority, and network priority. The simulation results illustrate that the proposed handover decision algorithm outperforms the traditional network decision algorithm in terms of handover number probability and the handover failure probability. In addition, it is noticed that the network priority handover decision algorithm produces better results compared to equal priority and mobile priority handover decision algorithm. Finally, the simulation results are validated by the analytical model.
Vertical handoff algorithm for different wireless technologies