Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137

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Computer Networks
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comnet

Cross layer architecture with integrated MIH in heterogeneous

wireless networks
Wahida Mansouri a,∗, Faouzi Zarai b, Kais Mnif a, Lotfi Kamoun a
a
LETI laboratory, University of Sfax, Tunisia
b
NTS’COM Research Unit, National School of Electronics and Telecommunications of Sfax, Tunisia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Progress in new radio technologies and raise in users’ demands are motivating the deployment of a wide
Received 18 September 2016 array of wireless networks, ranging from Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), to fifth generation (5G).
Revised 1 June 2017
These heterogeneous Radio Access Technologies (RATs) are expected to be integrated together to provide
Accepted 14 August 2017
mobile users QoS guarantees. Heterogeneous Wireless Networks (HWNs) provide an opportunity for de-
Available online 16 August 2017
velopers to design efficient framework to satisfy stringent QoS requirement. This integration of different
Keywords: networks results in performance degradation when handovers occur during a mobility event. As a result,
WLAN the effective mobility management protocols are required to support ubiquitous network access by pro-
Heterogeneous wireless networks viding seamless handover. In IEEE 802.21 standard, the framework Media Independent Handover (MIH)
QoS is proposed to facilitate handover in heterogeneous networks with measurements and triggers from link
IEEE 802.21 layers. This article emphasizes in relationship between the MIH framework and different modules in the
Handover
MAC layer. In order to guarantee the QoS for different service flows with diverse QoS requirements, we
propose to design new cross-layer based designs architecture to provide a combined solution for vertical
and horizontal handover based on IEEE 802.21 MIH. We propose new modules in different layers and
new primitives to facilitate the communication. Conducted simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of
the proposed approaches. We evaluate the proposed architecture using a scheduling algorithm which im-
proves system performance as shown by the results presented of a comparative analysis with the NSA
(New Scheduling Algorithm) and EDF (Earliest Deadline First) schemes.
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The development of next generation networks is driven by the
need to offer the subscribers seamless services across heteroge-
neous networks. The heterogeneous networks include both fixed
and mobile networks. This integration of heterogeneous networks
will, however, lead to heterogeneities in access technologies and
network protocols. To meet the requirements of mobile users
under this heterogeneous environment, a common infrastructure
to interconnect multiple access networks will be needed. The
management of QoS in the infrastructure of the HWN implies the
presence of specific mechanisms such as scheduling and Call Ad-
mission Control (CAC) to guarantee the QoS of existing users and
to optimize the overall system resource utilization. Call admission
control is a key element in the provision of guaranteed QoS in
wireless networks [1].
∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: wahidamansouri1@yahoo.fr (W. Mansouri),
faouzi.zarai@isecs.rnu.tn (F. Zarai), kais.mnif@gmail.com (K. Mnif),
lotfikamoun2@gmail.com (L. Kamoun).
Recent studies like [2] have already moved towards taking
advantage of different access networks simultaneously to provide
high-quality video streaming. The authors investigate the chal-
lenging problem of providing high perceptual-quality for HD video
streaming over heterogeneous wireless networks. They develop a
quality-evaluation based decision process for congestion control
and video frame scheduling.
An efficient CAC is one of the strategic components that a net-
work management policy requires, which defines how to allocate
network resources to roaming and new users. Several works were
done on CAC but these works rarely considers scheduling of re-
sources to the real time and non-real time users [3]. A fundamen-
tal element in resource management is scheduling that schedules
packets that are ready for transmission. Certain QoS levels can be
obtained based on the scheduling algorithm, as well as the traffic
characteristics of the multiplexed flows. There are many scheduling
algorithms that take care of different parameters, such as dead-
lines, throughput, channel conditions, energy consumption, and
so forth. A cross-layer approach [4,5] is needed to make effective
use of the MAC layer mechanisms when provisioning end-to-end
QoS. However, the existing cross-layer designs provide individual

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2017.08.007
1389-1286/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 W. Mansouri et al. / Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137
solution for congestion control, scheduling, call admission control
and handover management. There is no complete solution for the
above issues and there is no standard to specify the design and
the implement of these modules in heterogeneous networks. The
majority of the authors come up with their own idea.
Compared to the existing studies, we advance the state of the
art by extending MIH with QoS architecture for MAC layer which
introduces a framework for the scheduling and admission control
policy for HWNs to allow users of multimedia content to be
always best connected. Scheduling and call admission control are
important modules in providing QoS guarantee. Then we present
the relationship between modules to provide QoS guarantees
when vertical or horizontal handover happens. In this article, we
are planning to design efficient vertical and horizontal handover
modules integrated with MIH framework in heterogeneous net-
works. The main goal behind designing new modules is that they
should not only change information but also be easy to implement
in hardware.
In particular, the contributions of this work can be summarized
in the following: First, we develop a new architecture based on
the IEEE 802.21 framework. In this architecture, we integrate ver-
tical handover engine for handover making decision between the
network layer and the Media Independent Handover layer. Second,
we develop new modules to estimate the dynamic parameters
in the MAC layer to determine the available bandwidth, velocity
of the mobile, delay, SINR and the channel quality. We propose
an extension to the platform MIH by a new module called HMM
which is responsible for vertical handover decision making and
network scoring. Third, we conduct the performance evaluation
with simulations. Evaluation results demonstrate the effectiveness
of the proposed approaches.
The remainder of this article is organized as follows:
Section 2 presents the related work. In Section 3, we present
our proposed MIH integrated architecture. Section 4 presents
the experiment results and performance analysis based on three
criteria, the blocking rate, the packet loss ratio and the average
packet waiting time. Finally, we conclude the article in Section 5.
2. Related works
A significant number of proposals on cross layer designs have
been found in recent literature [5–8]. In [5], the authors propose
a cross layer design to optimize the overall performance of video
streaming services. The new proposed layer design controls the
video transmission rate, delay constraint, congestion, and resource
constraint in order to maximize the received video quality and the
performance of the network. The authors integrate rate adaptation
module with link failure module, which makes use of received
signal strength parameter for cross-layer optimization. In rate
adaptation module, transmission rate selection selects data rate in
the MAC layer based on the channel estimation information from
physical layer. The authors address also the problem of congestion
and resource constraint. They design energy efficient routing and
congestion control protocol. They use two metrics: queue length
for congestion and remaining energy of node. We remark that this
analysis is based on the Received Signal Strength (RSS) which does
not give the exact channel quality to the link failure management
module. The issue of cross-layer networking, where the physical
and MAC layer knowledge of the wireless medium is shared
with higher layers and efficient methods of allocating network
resource and applications over the Internet are provided in [6].
In [7], a new architecture is proposed which provides a basic
structure for implementing the cross layer feedback mechanism
along with a solution for congestion control. This architecture has
two main components ECLAIR module at the sender and receiver
end and LLCLAMP module in between sender and receiver for
127
communication. The proposed architecture presents a solution for
the congestion without interaction with the other modules such
as scheduling or call admission.
Intensive research efforts have been made to define efficient
vertical handover or inter-RAT (Radio Access Technologies) han-
dover procedures. For this reason, many proposals to solve the
mobility management problems in HWNs can be found in the
literature. For example, the authors in [9] propose a novel MIHF
(Media-Independent Handover Function) variant renamed as in-
terworking (IW) sub layer which provides a seamless inter-RAT
handover procedure between UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecom-
munications System) and WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access) systems. This MIHF variant introduces a new
intersystem retransmission mechanism and applies cross-layer
mechanism to resolve packet loss and long handover latency
problems, in the user plane. In the control plane, it defines a
few cross-layer triggers and information from lower layers or to
upper layers. The limit of this proposed sublayer IW is that it does
not provide information about the channel quality in spite of its
importance in reducing packet loss and handover latency.
Most optimization studies focus on scheduling and ignore
connection admission and handover management or vice versa. In
[10], the authors explain the roles and the functional relationship
between the IEEE 802.16 scheduler and CAC. They proposed a
scheduler and CAC relationship framework and hypothesize that
there is synergism between these components. The authors expect
that the performance measured at the connection-level is not only
directly controlled by the CAC but also indirectly by the Scheduler.
In order to provide different levels of QoS guarantees for different
applications, many works have proposed new packet scheduler
architecture for 802.16 networks such as [11] where the authors
elaborated architecture for integrated QoS control with respect to
cross-layer design. The authors discussed deeply the different QoS
functionality’s such as bandwidth allocation, scheduling, admission
control, physical modes and duplexing for WiMAX and emphasized
the relationship between modules and the control information
flows to provide cross-layer operation. They proposed architecture
of the IEEE 802.16 QoS platform of the Base Station and subscriber
Stations to support multimedia services.
Recently much attention has been paid on vertical handover
decision making such as [12,13]. But few have considered the
MIH framework combined with corresponding vertical handover
decision algorithm. In [14], the authors propose an enhanced
IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover framework (eMIH) that
integrates a Vertical Handover Management Engine (VHME) for
fast handover decision-making based on networks reputation. The
proposed VHME is implemented between the MIHF layer and the
upper layer. The authors do not consider the horizontal handover
when designing the proposed framework. In [15], the authors
propose a new predictive handover framework that uses the
neighbor network information to generate timely the link triggers.
The neighbor network information is used to decide the desired
handover policy and the required handover procedure. In the
proposed handover architecture, they make use of the IEEE 802.21
functionality which discover and obtain network information
available within a geographical area to facilitate the handovers.
In the work [16], different decision factors are constructed into a
hierarchical structure. An Enhanced Media Independent Handover
(EMIH) framework is proposed by integrating more information
from application layers, user context and network context. In the
proposed architecture, some new function entities and modules
are presented. To meet the requirements of mobile users under
heterogeneous wireless networks, some latest works on the mobile
energy efficiency [17] address the problems of QoS requirements,
network limitation, energy consumption and video contents. In
[18], an intelligent vertical handover framework is proposed and
128 W. Mansouri et al. / Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137

Table 1
Synthesis of reviewed works.

Ref. Approach/Architecture Considered mechanisms Platform Missing points

MIH

[4] Cross Layer Architecture with SINR based CAC, scheduling No There is no complete architecture for CAC
CAC integrated with the Queue based and scheduling
Scheduling
[5] Cross-Layer Architecture for Video Rate adaptation, link failure management, No There is no complete architecture and no
Streaming congestion control, and energy efficient standard to specify the design and the
implement of the proposed modules
[7] Cross Layer Design to Optimize the Congestion control, Optimizing Subsystem No interaction with the other modules such as
Performance of TCP and Tuning Layers scheduling or call admission
[9] Cross-Layer Design of the In ter-RAT Vertical handover, TCP Snoop Yes No information about the channel quality
handover in spite of its importance in reducing
packet loss and handover latency
[10] Synergy between the CAC and Schedulers CAC, scheduling No –
[14] Enhanced MIH Framework for VHO Vertical handover Yes The horizontal handover is not considered
Decision Making when designing the proposed framework
[16] Framework of Enhanced MIH Vertical handover, network selection Yes –
[17] Energy-video aware multipath transport scheduling algorithm No –
protocol

MIH_NET_SAP L3 Transport Interface

MIH Users MIH Users MIH Users

MIH_SAP MIH_SAP MIH_SAP

MIH Funcon MIH Funcon MIH Funcon

(MIES) (MICS) (MIIS) (HMM) (MIES) (MICS) (MIIS) (HMM) (MIES) (MICS) (MIIS) (HMM)

MIH_LINK_SAP MIH_NET_SAP MIH_LINK_SAP MIH_LINK_SAP

3GPP 802 802 Interface 3GPP Interface

Interface Interface

Mobile node Network 802.x Network 3GPP/3GPP2

Fig. 1. General MIH communication model.

discussed to simplify the network selection, and to reduce the
handover latency and frequency. The authors integrate the MIH
standard and the Software-defined network (SDN) to ensure the
handover happens between only two potential networks regard-
less of the available types of technologies. The authors propose a
new pre-selection scheme to eliminate unqualified networks and
generate a network ranking.
Table 1 presents a summary of the some mentioned works in
designing cross layer architecture.
3. Proposed MIH integrated architecture
In this section, we present a new architecture based on the
IEEE 802.21 framework. Fig. 1 shows the proposed framework
based on the cross layer design for the seamless handover. In this
architecture, we integrate vertical handover engine for handover
making decision between the network layer and the Media Inde-
pendent Handover layer. In general, handovers may be initiated
either by mobile node or by network. The considered framework
assumes that the available networks may be managed by the
same operators or service providers. In this context, delegating the
score calculation task to the networks will guarantee obtaining
the real score values. Thus, the score values in the network side
or received by the mobile node used to make the decision will be
significant and will reflect the real network’s condition.
Our proposed architecture introduces new different modules.
It contains CAC, Scheduling, handover and MIHF modules imple-
mented at layer 2 and 2.5. In the downlink, the eNB or the AP
makes the decisions related to the bandwidth allocation to the
different users. The scheduler schedules the packet for the physical
(PHY) resources taking into account their QoS requirements. Then,
the eNB or the AP indicates to the user that the PHY resources
have been allocated for the transmission, using the downlink
map massage (DL-MAP). As the scheduler independently builds
the DL-MAP and uplink map massage (UL-MAP) message, the
CAC needs to closely consult these in order to determine the
 W. Mansouri et al. / Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137
available resources and consequently, whether to admit or reject a
connection of a particular traffic type.
3.1. MIH communication model
The exchange of messages between the platform MIH and other
layers is performed through the Service Access Points (SAP) and
primitives that provide MIH users the access to MIHF services. The
standard IEEE 802.21 defines different types of SAPs:
– MIH_SAP was defined to establish the link between the MIHF
layer and the upper layers called MIH Users.
– MIH_LINK_SAP was defined to establish the link between the
MIHF layer and the lower layers.
– MIH_NET_SAP ensures the exchange of messages between
remote MIHF.
In our work, we propose an extension of the MIH platform with
the new module HMM as shown in the architecture illustrated in
Fig. 1.
The HMM interacts with MIHF to introduce handover and
inform the other modules about the handover decision. The MIHF
module sends a message containing MIH information such as
MIH_LINK_DETECTED to inform the handover module that there
is a new client in a coverage area. The handover module sends a
message containing the link identifier and resources request to the
CAC module. Then, it sends a message to the scheduling module
containing information about the new point of attachment of the
mobile node (Old Link Identifier, New Link Identifier, Old Access
Router and New Access Router).
3.2. Layers and modules
In this section, we present the detailed proposed architec-
ture. We introduce new different modules in different layers as
presented in Fig. 2.
3.2.1. PHY and MAC layer
The PHY/MAC layer is responsible for the link quality measure-
ment and trigger generation. It gathers link quality information
and provides current data rate measurements. The PHY layer
parameter used is Received Signal Strength (RSS). The MAC layer
parameters are peak rate and packet error rate.
– CAC module
CAC needs to know about the available resources and conse-
quently, whether to admit or deny a connection of a particular
traffic type. The input parameters for the CAC algorithm are the
SINR for all the connections and the channel quality (received from
the Channel State Information module), a set of QoS parameters for
providing delay guarantee to the real time connection and avail-
ability of bandwidth. Based on these input parameters, CAC algo-
rithm takes the decision to admit or reject an incoming connection
request. A connection is admitted: if there is enough bandwidth to
accommodate the new connection. We obtain output performance
parameters from the CAC algorithm as described in [4]. These
output performance parameters act as feedback information used
by the PHY layer to select Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS).
The CAC needs to know the current resource state of the
network, which it can only determine by consulting the scheduler
and the CAC informs the scheduler of whether a request has been
admitted or not.
– Classifier module
This module determines the type of service to be assigned
to an incoming traffic. The classification of the data packets is
necessary for identifying the service associated with the connec-
tion. Packets received are classified and buffered into one of the
129
per class queues real time and non real time class. The classifier
timestamps every arriving packet based on its arrival time. This
information is used by the Buffer manager and the scheduler to
identify when the packet deadline expires.
– Scheduler module
As defined in [11], scheduling is the main component of the
MAC layer that assures QoS to various service classes. The MAC
scheduling services are adopted to determine which packet will be
served first in a specific queue to guarantee its QoS requirements.
The scheduler module gathers information on the channel quality
received through message sent by the Channel Quality &Triggers
module. Scheduler builds the DL-MAP and UL-MAP. The UL-MAP
is determined by the packet scheduling module based on the
bandwidth request and messages that report information about
the current state of each uplink connection. The UL-MAP decides
the order of transmission from the user to the eNB, and the
DL-MAP transmits data downward to the user.
– Packet buffer
The packet buffer is logically organized into different traffic
classes: class 1, class 2… class C. In our case, we consider two
classes; one for real time traffic and the second for non real time
traffic. The packets are controlled by the scheduler and those with
the expired deadline are then dropped.
– Dynamic Parameters Estimation
For vertical handover, additional considerations such as the
available bandwidth, velocity of the mobile and mobility model,
and QoS considerations, such as the guarantee of the minimum
user required data rate during vertical handover should be taken
into account. This module is used only on the network side and
it sends a message to the vertical handover decision as additional
triggers and a message to the Network Scoring module.
It is composed of the different units:
 Velocity Estimation: The relative movement between the
enhanced-NodeB (eNB) or the Access Point (AP) and the MN
introduces Doppler shift. The Doppler shift is a frequency shift
in the propagation signals. Doppler frequency (f ) is related
to speed of light in free space (c), carrier frequency of the
received signal (f0 ) and speed of mobile user (the source) and
observer (the eNB or the AP) relative to each other as described
in [19,20]. The equation for the Doppler shift of the apparent
frequency f as seen by a receiver moving at a speed vr defined
by:
c + vr
f = f0 (1)
c + vs
Where vs is the speed of the MN (the source), c is the speed of
light (c = 3.0 × 108 m/s). Therefore, the calculation of the speed
of a MN moving past a stationary receiver (eNB or AP) begins
by determining the observed frequency f1 of the MN when it
moves towards the receiver and the observed frequency f2
when it moves away from the receiver:
 c 
f1 = f0 (2)
c−v
 c 
f2 = f0 (3)
c+v
The mobile speed v can be estimated by:
f1 − f2
v= c (4)
f1 + f2
130 W. Mansouri et al. / Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137

Fig. 2. Block diagram of proposed 802.21 based framework for handover decision.

 Delay Estimation: The coverage area of each AP/eNB is consid- v of the MN. This delay is expressed in the following equation:
ered as a circle with radius R and the AP/eNB is located at the
center of the circle. If the AP/eNB knows when the signal was
R−d
t= and R ≥ d (6)
sent (T1 ) and the signal’s propagation speed in the medium v
(vp ), the distance to the mobile node can be calculated as  SINR Estimation: This module determines the received Signal to
follows: Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR) by a user. The SINR of LTE
d = (T2 − T1 )∗v p (5) and WLAN are calculated in [21] as follows:
– The SINR received by user j from WLAN access point APi is
Where T2 is the instant in time when a signal first arrives at
given by:
the receiver (AP/eNB). The role of the delay estimation unit
is to determine, in advance, the remaining delay t before the P APi G APi, j
handover initiation. The handover triggering must start after a SIN R APi ( j) = (7)
I + PN
time equal to t before the MN leaves the coverage area of its
serving AP/eNB. The remaining delay is based on the distance Where P APi is the transmitting power of APi , G APi, j is the
d between the MN and the AP/eNB and the estimated velocity channel gain from user j to its APi , PN is the noise power of
 W. Mansouri et al. / Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137
Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) at the receiver and
I is the power of interference.
– The SINR received in LTE in the mth subcarrier correspond-
ing to user j is calculated as follows:
Pj,m G j,m G(θ )
SIN R j,m =
I + PN
Here Gi, m is the channel gain from user j to its eNB, G(θ ) is
the antenna gain, PN is the power AWGN and I is the power
of interference.
 Data Rate Estimation: By measuring the SINR of the different
RATs, the handover mechanism now has the knowledge of the
estimated maximum possible receiving data rates a user can
get from each RAT at the same time in the Handover zone.
So, the vertical handover mechanism will have the ability to
make handover decision taking in to account multimedia QoS
consideration. Offering the user maximum downlink through-
put from the integrated network or guaranteeing the minimum
user required data rate during vertical handover is considered
as additional criteria of multimedia QoS consideration for the
handover mechanism. Let SINRreq, c, i be the minimum value
of SINR required of class c in RAT (i) for successful commu-
nication between a MN and an AP/eNB to initiate handover
process and SINRest, c, i be the estimated value of SINR. A com-
parison between the received and the required value of SINR
is performed. If SINRest, c, i < SINRreq, c, i is verified a handover is
initiated to a target network.
The achievable data rate of a MN is a function of received SINR.
Following the Shannon’s formula, the data rate Ci, j [in bps] for
user j of class of service c connected to RAT(i) is given by [21]:
 
SIN Ri,c ( j )
Ci, j (c ) = B j,c log2 1+ , 1≤c≤C
Ii
Where Bj, c and Ii are respectively the bandwidth for calls of
class c and the total interference in the RAT(i). In order to
guarantee service continuity, the data rates from the serving
and the target network have to verify the following condition:
CTarget _Network, j ≥ CServing_Network, j
If a target network is available, a data rate comparison is per-
formed between the serving network and the target network.
If the condition in Eq. 10 is verified, a vertical handover is
initiated to the target network.
 Channel Quality and Triggers: This module uses some existing
MIH services such as Link_Up, Link_Down and Link_Going_Down
in order to determine the link status and QoS parameters of
different links like data rate and throughput. The MIES defines
the functions of event classification, event filtering, and event
reporting to upper layers. Specifically, different events such as
‘‘Link_Up”, ‘‘Link_Down”, ‘‘MIH_Link_Up”, and ‘‘MIH_Link_Down”
are defined. ‘‘Link_Up” and ‘‘Link_Down” events are generated
by lower layers (layer 1 or layer 2), and these events are
notified to the MIHF. Then, the MIHF reports these situations to
upper layers by triggering ‘‘MIH_Link_Up” and ‘‘MIH_Link_Down”
events. Access network specific information like network iden-
tifier is provided by the MIIS IE. The Channel Quality and
Triggers module (CQTM) can be described as four-tuple:
CQT M = (idnetwork , idlink , SINR est , CQL)
Where idnetwork is the network (RAT) identifier, idlink is the
link identifier, SINR est is the estimated SINR and CQL is the
Channel Quality Levels. The major concern of the quality
should be interference. If the estimated SINR is larger than
a threshold denoted as SINR th (SINRest ≥ SINRth ) the channel
is considered “good”. The channel is classified as “medium”
channel if SINRth > SINRest ≥ SINRreq . For high interference, if
131
SINRest < SINRreq the channel is classified as “bad” channel. The
Channel Quality and Triggers module sends the CQTM message
to the scheduler module which will use this information with-
out any channel scanning procedure. Each flow is associated
with a channel, which can be in one of the three states,
(8) namely, good, medium or bad state, at any time instant.
3.2.2. MIH platform
This module is responsible of providing information corre-
sponding to the dynamic changes in the links characteristics and
link status. The MIHF module sends a message containing the
events which are generated due to a change in the link layer
parameters. These events inform about a definite change in the
MAC or PHY state. These events are used to detect when a link
has become available or when the radio conditions of this link are
appropriate to perform a handover to this new link. Examples of
this type of events are the “Link Up” or “Link Down” events. This
information is used as input for the Channel State Information. The
channel State Information will use this information for quality esti-
mation and send messages to the CAC and the scheduling module.
MIHF defines three different services: Media Independent Event
Service (MIES), Media Independent Command Service (MICS), and
Media Independent Information Service (MIIS).
 Media Independent Event Service (MIES) detects and delivers
triggers from both local and remote interfaces corresponding
to the dynamic changes in link characteristics, link quality and
link status. Several event types are considered such as MAC and
PHY State Change events which inform about a definite change
in the MAC or PHY state. These events are used to detect when
a link has become available or when the radio conditions of
(9) this link are appropriate to perform a handover to this new
link. Examples of this type of events are the Link Up or Link
Down events. It provides also link parameters events which are
generated due to a change in the link layer parameters. It can
be generated in a synchronous way (a parameters report on
a regular basis) or by an asynchronous method like reporting
when a specific parameter reaches a threshold.
(10)  Media Independent Command Service (MICS) refers to the com-
mands sent from the higher layers to the lower layers in order
to determine the status of links. The MICS commands are
utilized to determine the status of the connected links and also
to execute mobility and connectivity decisions of the higher
layers to the lower layers. The mobility management protocol
can use MICS to inform the link layer to get ready before the
actual handover happen, and to give the command to the link
layer to switch from one network interface to another.
 Media Independent Information Service (MIIS) defines a mech-
anism for an MIH entity to discover available neighboring
network information within a geographical area. The informa-
tion supplied by the MIIS is provided in Information Elements
(IE) which can relate to higher layer services such as availability
of IP mobility schemes at a certain operator or to lower layer
such as link neighbor maps and link configuration parameters.
3.2.3. Enhanced MIH platform
The enhanced MIH platform is based on the new module
called Handover Management Module (HMM). Its role is to take
(11)
a handover decision based on different metrics such as the score
assigned to each network and the dynamic parameters estimated
at layer 2. This module uses the information from the link layer
to anticipate the possibility of a handover so that the handovers
procedures can be successfully performed.
The HMM is responsible for vertical handover decision making
and network scoring. The HMM uses the link layer information
to anticipate the possibility of a handover in advance so that
132 W. Mansouri et al. / Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137
the handover procedures can be carried out successfully. Link
layer information allows predicting the loss of connectivity more
quickly than layer 3 advertisement-based algorithms [22]. The
HMM module consists of the following units:
– Network Scoring
The rule of this module is to calculate the score or the rank
of the network based on information of the required QoS of user,
applications and terminal from the upper layers and the estimated
parameters and information collected from the MIES. The score
value is sent to the module of handover decision in order to make
the decision to select the best network.
– Handover Decision
This unit collects information from the Dynamic Parameters
Estimation and Network Scoring modules such as the delay, speed,
SINR, data rate and score values of each network. It communicates
with the policies repository to get information on application
requirements and with MIIS to get information on neighbor
networks information. Based on the trigger events provided by
the MIES, handover decision strategy should decides the need to
launch a handover decision process and selects the target PoA
from those available. Then, the handover decision module starts
the required handover procedures both on the MAC/PHY layer
and network layer by sending decision notification to the MICS in
order to activate the lower layers handover and a notification to
the Mobility Management Protocol in the network layer to activate
the IP layer handover.
3.2.4. Network layer and above
The handover decision module provides the required informa-
tion to the Mobility Management Protocols. Handover execution
presents the phase in which mobility management protocols
execute. After handover decision phase, any mobility management
protocol can be used for handover.
The application requirements, user requirements and terminal
capabilities are sent from the upper layers to HMM module. We
propose the following modules:
– Terminal capabilities: CPU, memory size, transmitted power and
network interface.
– User requirements: represent the preferences of the user in
terms of security and access network. characteristics (QoS and
cost).
– Application requirements: These requirements are summarized
by the required quality of service level of each application, such
as the minimum data rate required, the error rate, the security
level required, the maximum delay allowed, the minimum
bandwidth, the maximum loss rate and the type of traffic.
All those information are collected by the HMM module and
used for Hanover decision making. The decision module sends
notification of handover decision to the mobility management
protocol in the network layer.
3.3. New proposed primitives
In order to ensure the communication between the different
new modules and MIHF, we define new primitives as follows:
– Link_Estimated_Parameters: is generated by the module “Dy-
namic Parameters Estimation” of the MAC layer. This event
indicates a change in the dynamic parameters of lower lay-
ers. When this event is received by MIHF, the new HMM
handover management module is notified accordingly by
MIH_Estimated_Parameters, it contains:
 Trigger type: {Link_Estimated_Parameters}
 Source: {lower layer}
 Parameters: {network identifier, link identifier, estimated
parameters}
The estimated parameters are delay, speed, data rate, SINR and
the link quality level. Everything depends on the type of handover,
it is a horizontal handover HMM only orders a switching link
and if it is a vertical handover HMM must request a switching
link and send this information the mobility management protocol.
The information mentioned in this event helps to facilitate the
handover of the handover decision making in a heterogeneous
environment. It is also sent to the scheduler module.
– Application_Exigences: is generated by upper layers indicating
a change in the required parameters of the application, it
contains:
 Trigger type: {Application_Exigences}
 Source: {upper layers}
 Parameters: {network identifier, required parameters}
The information in the event Application_Exigences are sum-
marized by the required level of QoS of each application, such
as the error rate, the required security level, the maximum delay
allowed, the minimum bandwidth, the maximum loss rate and the
type of traffic.
– User_Exigences: is generated by upper layers. This event indi-
cates a change in the user’s requirements, it contains:
 Trigger type: {User_Exigences}
 Source {upper layers}
 Parameters: {network identifier, required parameters}
The information of the event User_Exigences are the user
preferences in terms of security and the characteristics of the
access network. If the user requirements are not met the event
will be triggered.
4. Performance evaluation
We propose to evaluate the performance of our new architec-
ture using a common scheduling algorithm called New Multi-Rat
Scheduling Algorithm (NMRSA). This open architecture provides
a basic structure for implementing our scheduling algorithm.
In fact, we are interested on how packets are scheduled within
this architecture and how it provides delay guarantees to time-
sensitive traffic in heterogeneous wireless networks. We compare
the performance of our scheduling schemes with two scheduling
schemes proposed in the literature.
As illustrated in Fig. 3, the traffic streams are classified
into different categories by the classifier and the scheduler is
equipped by three queues: a service queue S stores the identifiers
of packets selected to be served with the earliest deadline. The
identifiers of the packets which could not be transmitted because
of the bad quality of the channel are stored in B queue. The
non-real-time packets are stored in queue D. They are served if
the S and B queues are empty. The packet that has the earliest
time to expire and the best channel conditions, among all the
packets is chosen to be scheduled. We consider that each packet
n is characterized by a deadline Dmax, n . The scheduler makes a
decision according to the delay constraint, the channel status, the
class of service, and the type of connection (handover or new call).
– Computation of the earliest expiry time: The nth packet arrives
in router k of the Radio Access Technology RAT(i) with a
remaining time before its deadline expires equal to:
 
δi,k
n
= Dmax,n − Ani,k − t j,n (12)
 W. Mansouri et al. / Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137
Fig. 3. Scheduling architecture.
Where Ani,k is the time when the nth packet arrives in the RAT(i)
at the router k and tj, n is the time when the nth packet arrives
at the first router of its path. The earliest expiry time is used by
the algorithm to make the decision of scheduling contains also
the waiting time of the packet in that router which is the differ-
ence between the arrival and the departure time of the packet
in the router. The packet will wait Wi,k n until the scheduler fin-
ishes sending the packets that have higher priority than it.
hn,k
 EDF treat the two types of calls with the same way without giving
n
Wi,k = Dtr,l
l=1
Here Dtr, l is the transmission delay of packet l and hn, k is the
set of packets that have higher priority than the nth packet in
router k. The remaining time is expressed as follows:
 
δi,k
n
= Dmax,n − Ani,k − t j,n − Wi,k
n
– Estimation of channel quality: Using the information received
from the channel quality and triggers module, we propose
to assign a weight to each level of channel quality. For this
reason, we compare the estimated SINR with the required SINR
and the threshold γ . If the estimated SINR is larger than the
threshold then the channel is considered good and the weight
θik ( j ) is equal to 1. If the estimated SINR has a value between
the threshold and the required SINR then channel level is
considered medium and the weight θik ( j ) = 0.5. Otherwise, the
channel is considered bad and the weight θik ( j ) = 0.
– Computation of priority index: The packet with the earliest
remaining deadline and the best channel conditions is the one
n of nth
with the highest priority. Thus, the priority index Pi,k
packet in router k is given by:
1 explained by the fact that the NRT packets have an extra residence
n
Pi,k = ∗θik ( j )
δi,k
n time, in the queues, in order to serve RT packets first.
133
4.1. Simulation parameters
In this section the performance of the proposed architecture
and algorithm is analyzed and compared through MATLAB simula-
tions. We compare our scheduling scheme NMRSA with the Earliest
Deadline First (EDF) and New Scheduling algorithm (NSA) pro-
posed in [23]. This comparison is based on three criteria, the block-
ing rate, the packet loss ratio and the average packet waiting time.
In our simulation, we consider two networks WLAN and LTE.
The simulation topology consists of 7 and 1 nodes (routers) in
WLAN and LTE, respectively. The scope of each node in WLAN is
about 50 m where the scope of LTE nodes is about 500 m (Fig. 4).
In the simulation, we consider two types of service Real-Time
(RT) and non real-time (NRT) traffic types. The RT applications
such as VoIP require a limited delay and cannot tolerate a delay
higher than this limit. The NRT applications are not exigent in
term of delay such as data traffic. The arrival rates of both RT
and NRT follow the Poisson distribution and the arrival rate
ratio between RT and NRT. Mean holding time follows exponen-
tial distribution. The simulation parameters are summarized in
Table 2.
4.2. Results and discussions
The performance is evaluated mainly, according to the blocking
rate, the packet loss ratio and the average waiting time. Fig. 4 il-
lustrates the blocking ratio of the handover and the new calls for
real time applications of our proposed algorithm NMRSA. Then,
we compare it with two reference scheme proposed in [23] called
NSA and the well known algorithm EDF. In the simulation results
demonstrated in Fig. 5, we note that as the number of mobile
user increases and as the network traffic load increases so does
the blocking probability. We remark that the NMRSA scheme gives
a light decrease in blocking rate compared with the NSA scheme.
This gain can be explained by the fact that we introduce the
channel conditions in the computation of the priority index. So,
the number of blocked calls caused by the bad channel quality
is reduced. The blocking rate of handover and new calls in EDF
scheduling is greater than those found for NSA and NMRSA. The
(13) any priority. However, the NMRSA gives more priority to the
handover calls. As a result, the blocking ratio of the RT new calls
reaches greater values than the RT handover calls.
Figs. 6–8 show the packet loss rate and the delay for RT and
NRT applications. Each figure presents three graphs corresponding
to the NMRSA, EDF and NSA scheduling schemes. The results that
(14) can be deduced are resumed in the following points:
The packets loss rate increases with the increasing of the num-
ber of stations. This can be explained by the increase of waiting
time at each intermediate node along the path. Serving RT packets
with the highest priority and with the best channel conditions
in the NMRSA scheme minimizes the number of packets dropped
due to deadline expiry.
The curves of delay and packets loss rate for the EDF reach
values greater than those found for NSA and NMRSA. This can be
explained by the fact of predicting the variable nature of wireless
channel quality and introducing the channel conditions in the cal-
culation of the priority in order to prevent packets from being lost.
For the NRT applications, the waiting time in the curve of
EDF reach values greater than NMRSA and NSA. The EDF don’t
give priority to the NRT traffic. We notice that the waiting time
in the curve of the NRT applications exceeds 400 ms. This can be
(15)
134 W. Mansouri et al. / Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137

Fig. 4. The simulated network architecture.

Table 2
Mathematical notations.

Symbol Definition

f The Doppler frequency

c The speed of light in free space
f0 The carrier frequency of the received signal
vr The receiver speed
vs The source speed
f1 The observed frequency of the mobile when it moves towards the receiver
f2 The observed frequency when the mobile moves away from the receiver
v The mobile speed
R The coverage area radius
T1 The time when the signal was sent
T2 The instant in time when a signal first arrives at the receiver
vp The signal’s propagation speed in the medium
d The distance between the MN and the AP/eNB
t The remaining delay before the handover initiation
SIN R APi ( j ) The SINR received by user j from WLAN access point APi
P APi The transmitting power of APi
G APi, j The channel gain from user j to its APi
PN The noise power of AWGN at the receiver
I The power of interference
Gi, m The channel gain from user j to its eNB,
G(θ ) The antenna gain
Ci, j The data rate
Bj, c The bandwidth for calls of class c
Ii The total interference in the RAT(i)
idnetwork The network (RAT) identifier
idlink The link identifier
CQL The Channel Quality Levels
δi,k
n
The remaining time
Ani,k The time when the nth packet arrives in the RAT(i) at the router k
tj, n The time when the nth packet arrives at the first router of its path
n
Wi,k The waiting time
hn, k The set of packets that have higher priority than the nth packet in router k
Dtr, l The transmission delay of packet l
θik ( j ) The weight affected to the priority index
n
Pi,k The priority index of nth packet in router k

Fig. 5. Blocking probability vs. number of users.

 W. Mansouri et al. / Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137 135

Fig. 6. Packet loss ratio vs. number of users.

Fig. 7. Average waiting time for RT applications vs. number of users.

Fig. 8. Average waiting time for NRT applications vs. number of users.
136 W. Mansouri et al. / Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137

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 W. Mansouri et al. / Computer Networks 127 (2017) 126–137 137

Wahida Mansouri was born in Tunisia in 1983. She received her engineer’s and master’s degrees from the National Engineering School of Sfax
(University of Sfax, Tunisia) in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in the National Engineering School of Sfax (ENIS) and
a member of the Electronics and Technologies of Information Lab of ENIS. Her research interests are communication networks, quality of services
(QoS) and resource managements in next generation networks. Her current activities include scheduling and QoS provisioning for the integrated
cellular networks and wireless local area networks (WLANs).

Faouzi Zarai was born in Tunisia in 1978, he received his PhD in telecommunications from the Engineering School of Communications (Sup’Com,
Tunisia) on 2007. From 2002 to 2005 he has worked for the National Digital Certification Agency (NDCA, Tunisia). He co-authored more than 50
papers that have been published in international journals and conferences. Currently, Dr. Zarai is serving as Professor for the High Institute of
Electronics and Communication at Sfax. He is also member of the Electronics and Technologies of Information Lab of the National Engineering
School of Sfax (ENIS), where Dr. Zarai is conducting research activities in the areas of security and Quality of services in wireless networks:
authentication, IP Taceback, Seamless Mobility, Congestion control, Admission Control, Radio Resource Management…

Kais Mnif, he obtained the B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Sfax, Tunisia, in 1995 and the M.Sc. and Ph.D degrees in
Telecommunications from the University of Quebec, Canada, in 1998 and 2006, respectively. Since 2007, he is with the Institute of Electronics
and Communication (ISECS) where he is currently an Assistant Professor and a member of Electronic and Technology Information Laboratory
(LETI), University of Sfax. From 1999 to 2002, He was with Harris-Microwave Communication Division, Montreal, Canada. Where He was a System
Integration Engineer working on the test integration of the BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) System. His scopes of research are performance
evaluation, QoS, Mobility Management, Radio Resource Management and Scheduling for Next Wireless Generation Networks.

Lotfi Kamoun was born in Sfax, Tunisia, in 1957. He received his Electrical Engineering degree from the Sciences and Techniques Faculty in Tunisia.
Actually, he is a professor of Electrical Engineering in Sfax National Engineering School (ENIS) in TUNISIA and the Director of Electronic and
Technology Information Laboratory (LETI). His scopes of research are communications, networking, and software radio and signal processing, which
are specially related to wireless and 4th generation networks