A quality of experience handover system for heterogeneous multimedia wireless networks

The convergence of emerging real-time multimedia services, the increasing coverage of wireless networks and the ever-growing popularity of mobile devices, are leading to an era of user-centric multimedia wireless services. In this scenario, heterogeneous communications will co-exist and ensure that the end-user is always best connected. However, the Quality of Experience (QoE) support for emerging video applications in multi-operator environments remains a significant challenge and is crucial for the success of wireless multimedia systems. This paper presents a Quality of Experience Handover Architecture for Converged Heterogeneous Wireless Networks, called QoEHand. QoEHand allows users of multimedia content to be always best connected in IEEE 802.11e and IEEE 802.16e environments. Simulation results show the impact and benefit of the proposed solution in multi-access and multi-operator wireless scenarios by using objective and subjective QoE metrics.