An Efficient Decision Algorithm for VerticalHandoff Across 4G HeterogeneousWireless Networks
S.Aghalya
Research Scholar,Anna UniversityIndiastmaagh@yahoo.co.in
P.
Seethalakshmi
Anna UniversityIndiaauropansee@yahoo.co.in
Abstract -
As mobile wireless networks increase in popularity,we are facing the challenge of integration of diverse wirelessnetworks. It is becoming more important to arrive at a verticalhandoff solution where users can move among various types of networks efficiently and seamlessly. To address this issue, anefficient vertical handoff decision(EVHD) algorithm has beenproposed in this paper to decide the best network interface andbest time moment to handoff. An overall gain function has beenutilized in this algorithm to make the right decision based onvarious factors, the network characteristics such as usage cost,bandwidth, power consumption and dynamic factors such asReceived Signal Strength (RSS), velocity and position of mobileterminal (MT). The effectiveness of the EVHD algorithm hasbeen verified by carrying out simulations. The results showthat EVHD achieves 78.5% reduction in number of unnecessary handoffs compared to static parameter basedalgorithm. The increase in throughput is about 60% comparedto static parameter based algorithm for all the types of traffic.The overall system performance has been improved by theproposed efficient VHD algorithm and outperforms the threewell known VHD algorithms including static parameter based,RSS based and RSS-timer based algorithms.
Keywords - Heterogeneous network, Seamless handoff,Vertical handoff, Handoff decision, Gain function.
I. I
NTRODUCTION
Nowadays, there are various wireless communicationsystems existing for different services, users and data ratessuch as GSM, GPRS, IS-95, W-CDMA, Wireless LAN etc.Fourth generation (4G) wireless systems integrate allexisting and newly developed wireless access systems. 4Gwireless systems will provide significantly higher data rates,offer a variety of services and applications and allow globalroaming among a diverse range of mobile access networks[1].In a typical 4G networking scenario, mobile terminalsequipped with multiple interfaces have to determine the bestnetwork among the available networks. For a satisfactoryuser experience, mobile terminals must be able toseamlessly transfer to the best network without anyinterruption to an ongoing service. Such ability to handoverbetween heterogeneous networks is referred to as SeamlessVertical Handoff (VHO) [2]. As a result, an interestingproblem surfaced on how to decide the best network to useat the best time moment.Vertical handoff provides a mobile user great flexibilityfor network access. However, the decision on whichnetwork to use becomes much more complicated, becauseboth the number of networks and the decision criteriaincrease. Thus an intelligent vertical handover decision(VHD) algorithm is essential for 4G network access. As themobile users move in an environment with differentnetworks supporting different technologies, the VHDdepends on different criteria such as bandwidth, cost, powerconsumption, user preferences and security [3].All the existing approaches mainly focused on thevertical handoff decision, assuming that the handoff decisionprocessing task is performed on the mobile side. Suchprocess requires a non negligible amount of resources toexchange information between MT and neighbor networksin order to accomplish the discovery of the best network tohandoff. The main issues of the handoff decision :combining decision criteria, comparing them and answeringthe user needs anytime and anywhere. Several proposals andapproaches considering VHD algorithms were proposed inthe literature.This paper proposes a vertical handoff decisionalgorithm in order to determine the best network based ondynamic factors such as RSS, Velocity and Position of themobile terminal and static factors of each network. Thus,this algorithm meets the individual needs and also improvethe whole system performance by reducing the unnecessaryhandoffs and increasing the throughput.II. R
ELATED WORK
An efficient vertical handoff (VHO) is very essential inensuring the system performance because the delayexperienced by each handoff has a greater impact on thequality of multimedia services. The VHD algorithm shouldreduce the number of unnecessary handoffs to provide betterthroughput to all flows. Research on design andimplementation of optimized VHD algorithms has beencarried out by many scholars using various techniques.Based on the handoff decision criteria, VHD algorithms arecategorized as RSS based algorithms, Bandwidth basedalgorithms, User Mobility based algorithms and Costfunction based algorithmsIn RSS based algorithms, RSS is used as the maincriterion for handoff decision. Various schemes have beendeveloped to compare RSS of the current point of attachment with that of the candidate point of attachments.They are: Relative RSS, RSS with hysteresis, RSS withhysteresis plus dwelling timer method [4,5]. Relative RSS isnot applicable for VHD, since the RSS from different typesof networks can not be compared directly due to thedisparity of the technologies involved. In RSS withhysteresis method, handoff is performed whenever the RSS
(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,Vol. 8, No. 7, October 2010124http://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ISSN 1947-5500
of new Base station (BS) is higher than the RSS of old BSby a predefined value. In RSS with hysteresis plus dwellingtimer method, whenever the RSS of new BS is higher thanthe RSS of old BS by a predefined hysteresis, a timer is set.When it reaches a certain specified value, handoff isprocessed. This minimizes Ping pong handoffs. But othercriteria have not been considered in this method. EVHDalgorithm makes use of this method for RSS comparison.In bandwidth based algorithms, available Bandwidth fora mobile terminal is the main criterian. In [6], a bandwidthbased VHD method is presented between WLANs and aWCDMA network using Signal to Interference and Noiseratio (SINR). It provides users higher throughput than RSSbased handoffs since the available bandwidth is directlydependent on the SINR. But it may introduce excessivehandoffs with the variation of the SINR. This excessivehandoffs is reduced by a VHD heuristic based on the wrongdecision probability (WDP) prediction [7]. The WDP iscalculated by combining the probability of unnecessary andmissing handoffs. This algorithm is able to reduce the WDPand balance the traffic load. But in the above papers, RSShas not been considered. A handoff to a target network withhigh bandwidth but weak received signal is not desirable asit may result in connection breakdown.In user mobility based algorithms, velocity informationis a critical one for handoff decision. In the overlay systems,to increase the system capacity, micro/pico cells areassigned for slow moving users and macro cells are assignedfor fast moving users by using velocity information [8]. Itdecreases the number of dropped calls. An improvedhandoff algorithm [9] has been presented to reduce thenumber of unnecessary handoffs by using location andvelocity information estimated from GSM measurement dataof different signal strengths at MT received from basestations. From these papers, it is seen that velocity andlocation information are also having great effect on handoff management. They should also be taken into account inorder to provide seamless handoff between heterogeneouswireless networks.Cost function based algorithms combine network metrics such as monetary cost, security, power consumptionand bandwidth. The handoff decision is made by comparingthe result of this function for the candidate networks[10,11,12]. Different weights are assigned to different inputmetrics depending on the network conditions and userpreferences. These algorithms have not considered otherdynamic factors, such as velocity, position of the MT.III. P
ROPOSED
V
ERTICAL
H
ANDOFF
D
ECISION ALGORITHM
EVHD algorithm is a combined algorithm thatcombines the static parameters of the network such as usagecost, bandwidth and power consumption and dynamicparameters such as RSS, velocity and position of the MT.The main objective of EVHD is to maximize the throughputby reducing the number of handoffs. The EVHD algorithminvolves two phases: the calculation of Gain function andthe calculation of Overall Gain function.Calculation of Gain function provides costdifferentiation. The Gain function calculates the cost of thepossible target network. It is a function of the offeredbandwidth B, Power consumption P and usage charge of thenetwork C.G
n
= f (B
n
, P
n
, C
n
)G
n
is the Gain function for network n. The Gain function iscalculated by using Simple Additive Weight (SAW)algorithm.Gain function G
i
= w
b
f
b,i
+ w
p
f
p,i
+ w
c
f
c,i
Where w
b
is weight factor for offered bandwidth, w
p
isweight factor for power consumption by network interfaceand w
c
is weight factor for the usage cost of network.f
b,i
, f
p,i
,and f
c,i
represent the normalized values of network ifor bandwidth, power consumption and usage costrespectively. Based on the service requirement, the weightsare assigned to the parameters.Calculation of Overall Gain function provides the bestnetwork to handoff. A candidate network is the network whose received signal strength is higher than its thresholdand its position is less than the threshold. The RSS of MT ismeasured. using the path loss and shadowing formula that iswidely adopted for ns-2. The RSS of MT can be expressedasRSS = PL(d
0
) – 10nlog (d/d
0
) + X
σ
Where PL(d
0
) is the received power at a reference distance(d
0
). The simple free space model is used to compute PL(d
0
).d is the distance between servicing BS and MT. n is the pathloss exponent. X
σ
is a Gaussian random variable with zeromean and standard deviation of
σ
.Fluctuations in RSS are caused by shadowing effect.They lead the MT into unnecessary ping-pong handoffs. Toavoid these ping-pong handoffs, a dwell timer is added. Thetimer is started when the RSS is less than RSS threshold.The MT performs a handoff if the condition is satisfied forthe entire timer interval.The position of the MT is measured. It is based on theconcept that a handoff should be performed before the MTreaches a certain distance from the BS. This is known asposition threshold [8].Position threshold r = a-
ντ
Where a is radius of the service area of the BS,
ν
is velocityof the MT and
τ
is estimated handoff signaling delay.The priority for each network is based on the differencewhich is measured for each network.RSS difference = RSS-RSS thresholdPosition diff = position threshold-position of the MTHigher the difference means higher the priority. It is sobecause higher difference indicates that the MT is morenearer to the BS of that network. Hence the MT can stay formore time in the cell of the respective network before askingfor another handoff. Thus it is possible to reduce theunnecessary handoffs and improve the performance of thesystem.The priority levels p
i
are assigned to the networksaccording to the difference. Overall Gain (OG) is calculatedby multiplying Gain function by this priority level.OG = G*p
i
A candidate network which has the highest overall Gain isselected as the best network to handoff.
(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,Vol. 8, No. 7, October 2010125http://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ISSN 1947-5500
IV. S
IMULATION
A simulation model where two cellularsystems GSM and CDMA and a WLAN forming an overlaystructure is considered for simulation given below.The MT can be in any one of the regions A, B, C, D. Forthis simulation, the following values are assigned for theparameters: PL(d
0
) = -30dB, n = 4, d
0
= 100m
σ
=8dB
τ
= 1secWLAN GSM CDMAOfferedbandwidth2Mbps 100kbps 150kbpsPowerconsumption3hrs 2.5hrs 2hrsUsage cost 10Rs/min 5Rs/min 2.5Rs/minRSS threshold -60dB -80dB -70DbVelocitythreshold11m/s 13m/s 12m/sThe simulation has been performed for static parameterbased, RSS based, RSS-timer based and EVHD algorithms.In Static factors based algorithm, static parameters alonehave been considered and hence causes lot of false handoffs.In RSS based algorithm, RSS of the MT has been comparedwith the signal strength threshold of the respective network.If it is lesser than the threshold, handoff is performed. Butbecause of some shadowing effects, the signal strength isused to fluctuate and cause a lot of false handoff trigger. InRSS- timer based algorithm, RSS has been recorded over aperiod of time. This timer is applied to reduce thefluctuations of RSS caused by shadowing effect and hence,to reduce ping-pong handoff. In the Proposed EVHDalgorithm, static parameters, RSS, velocity and position of the MT have been considered for handoff decision. Ahandoff is carried out whenever the position of the MTreaches to a certain boundary, regardless of RSS. Thisreduces the handoff failure. The boundary is a safetydistance of MT from the BS to assure a successful handoff and this boundary is not fixed and is varying according tothe position and velocity of MT.V. R
ESULTS AND
D
ISCUSSION
In this study, the performance evaluation of the efficientvertical handoff decision algorithm (EVHD) has beencarried out and the metrics number of unnecessary handoffsand throughput have been compared with static parameterbased algorithm, RSS-static parameter based algorithm,RSS-timer-static parameter based algorithm.The number of handoffs experienced by the algorithmsis shown in fig.1. The obtained results show that the numberof handoffs is reduced by 78.5% in EVHD algorithmcompared to static parameter based algorithm and 25%compared to RSS-timer based algorithm. The huge reductionin number of handoffs, is one of the major achievements of EVHD algorithm.The number of packets serviced by static parameterbased, RSS based, RSS-timer based and EVHD algorithmshave been observed and is shown in fig.2. EVHD algorithmis able to service more number of packets in a given periodof time compared to other algorithms because of itsreduction in number of handoffs.The results show that the EVHD algorithm performsbetter in terms of number of handoffs and throughputcompared to static parameter based, RSS based, RSS-timerbased algorithms.
Figure 1
02468101214161 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
simulation time
n u m b e r o f h n d o f f s
staticRSSRSS-timerproposed
Figre 2
01002003004005006007001 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
simulation time
n u m b e r o f p a c k e t s
staticRSSRSS-timerproposed
VI. C
ONCLUSION
Efficient vertical handoff decision algorithm is acombined algorithm that combines the static parameters of the network such as usage cost, bandwidth and powerconsumption and dynamic parameters such as RSS, velocityand position of the MT. The algorithm has beenimplemented successfully using ns-2 simulator. The resultsshow that EVHD achieves about 78.5% reduction in numberof handoffs compared to static parameter based algorithmand 25% reduction compared to RSS-timer based algorithmand it is clear that EVHD provides better throughput withminimum number of handoffs compared to other algorithms.Thus EVHD has outperformed the other algorithms byproviding less number of handoffs and high throughput andhence it is efficient in enhancing QoS for multimediaapplications.
(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,Vol. 8, No. 7, October 2010126http://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ISSN 1947-5500
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An Efficient Decision Algorithm For Vertical Handoff Across 4G Heterogeneous Wireless Networks
As mobile wireless networks increase in popularity, we are facing the challenge of integration of diverse wireless networks. It is becoming more important to arrive at a vertical handoff solution where users can move among various…
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