Utilizing Weighted Rating of Multiple Attributes scheme to enhance handoff efficiency in heterogeneous wireless networks

In an increasingly heterogeneous wireless environment, the selection of a network best able to meet the requirements of users has become ever more difficult. It requires the design of an intelligent handoff decision algorithm. In this paper, we propose an innovated handoff decision algorithm. First, we make handoff decisions based on a group of critical network attributes. Second, we use a self-developed rating method, called Weighted Rating of Multiple Attributes (WRMA), to evaluate the relative importance of the network attributes designated. Overall, our handoff decision algorithm consists of two processes: to rate attributes and to select candidate networks. The WRMA is used to perform the first process. Also, the TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) is applied to executing the second process of network selecting or ranking. We will compare our multi-attribute handoff decision algorithm with the traditional signal handoff method published by the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology of the United States). We use four key performance indicators (KPIs): packet drop rate, delay, jitter and average throughput in conducting our comparisons and experiments. The final results indicate that the WRMA can provide better transmission quality in existing heterogeneous wireless networks than the NIST method.