A fuzzy extension of VIKOR for target network selection in heterogeneous wireless environments

In a highly integrated ubiquitous wireless environment, the selection of a network that can fulfill end-users' service requests while keeping their overall satisfaction at a high level, is vital. The wrong selection can lead to undesirable conditions such as unsatisfied users, weak Quality of Service (QoS), network congestions, dropped and/or blocked calls, and wastage of valuable network resources. The selection of these networks is performed during the handoff process when a Mobile Station (MS) switches its current Point of Attachment (PoA) to a different network due to the degradation or complete loss of signal and/or deterioration of the provided QoS. Traditional schemes perform the handoff necessity estimation and trigger the network selection process based on a single metric such as Received Signal Strength (RSS). These schemes are not efficient enough, as they do not take into consideration the traffic characteristics, user preferences, network conditions and other important system metrics. This paper presents a novel multi-attribute vertical handoff algorithm for heterogeneous wireless networks which achieves seamless mobility while maximizing end-users' satisfaction. Two modules are designed to estimated the necessity of handoff and to select the target network. These modules utilize parallel Fuzzy Logic Controllers (FLCs) with reduced rule-set in combination with a network ranking algorithm developed based on Fuzzy VIKOR (FVIKOR). Simulation results are provided and compared with a benchmark.