An Efficient Multi-Dimensional Handover Scheme for Next-Generation Networks

In next-generation mobile networks, consisting of multiple heterogeneous wireless networks, the vertical handover procedure is a difficult but important task. In the vertical handover procedure, the methods on which and how handover triggering factors are considered are not standardized. There are many research results considering a single or multiple handover triggering factors, but most of them select the handover network considering multiple factors at the same level. In this paper, we propose a new vertical handover architecture which considers multiple handover triggering factors with multi-dimension. The multiple handover triggering factors are classified and normalized according to their characteristics. The proposed scheme can be easily implemented in real systems because each part of the proposed architecture can be mapped to the corresponding protocol layer. We evaluate the performance of the multi-dimensional architecture using simulations. The simulation results show that our scheme can provide more throughputs with less end-to-end delay compared to other schemes.