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There has been a considerable increase in the numbers and use of mobile applications and hence developing efficient solutions for seamless handoff across various wireless networks, has become the priority of network operators. The wired service providers deliver secure and reliable connectivity to users with high access speed. To provide the same quality experience to users, while on the move, smooth, fast and transparent handoff across different wireless network access technologies needs to be ensured (Chen, Sun, & Gerla, 2005) (Goutam & Unnikrishnan, Analysis & Comparison of Decision Tree Algorithms for Vertical Handover in Wireless Networks, 2019) (Goutam, Unnikrishnan, Prabavathy, Kudu, & Goutam, Assessment and Prediction of Quality of Service of Wireless Networks using Support Vector Machines, 2019). Figure 1 shows a typical heterogeneous wireless network scenario.
Figure 1.
Presence of Heterogeneous Wireless Networks
The process of handover involves the selection of the best network, based on the relevant attributes of the available networks, for performing handover. Seamless handoff is referred to as the handoff scheme which ensures that all running mobile applications are maintained to the user satisfaction, during the process of handoff. The efficacy of the Vertical Handover Decision Algorithm is determined by the optimum selection of input parameters (Marquez-Barja, Calafate, Cano, & Manzoni, 2011) (Yan, Sekercioglu, & Narayanan, 2010). Received Signal Strength (RSS) is the most critical and widely used parameter in deciding the handoff. However, Bandwidth, Cost and power consumption of battery also play a significant role in guaranteeing good user experience. Including these attributes also as inputs to the VHDA gives added advantage to the user, in terms of price and quality of reception (Goutam, Unnikrishnan, & Goutam, Model for Vertical Handover Decision in Vehicular Networks, 2017) (Goutam, Unnikrishnan, Prabavathy, & Kudu, Prediction of Vertical Handover Using Multivariate Regression Model, August 2019) (Chen L.-J., Sun, Chen, Rajendran, & Gerla, 2004).