Policy based access management and handover control in heterogeneous wireless networks

The next generation of mobile networks is expected to utilise multiple radio access technologies, seamlessly integrated to form a heterogeneous wireless network. On the arrival of a call request, the network operator must assign an access network to the user. A call request can be due to a new call initiated within a cell, or to an intra-system or inter-system handover attempt. Selecting the most optimal network from those available and controlling network access is an important consideration for overall network stability and QoS provisioning. The paper proposes a policy based management system to control network access in a heterogeneous wireless network. A call admission control policy admits a new user based on the current load and service mix in each available network. We also present an adaptive handover capacity reservation scheme using neural networks to maximize resource usage while limiting the dropped call rate and number of unnecessary inter-system handover attempts as users move between cells within the same network.