Performance Analysis Framework and Vertical Handover Triggering Algorithms for Voice over WLAN/Cellular Network

The development of handheld user equipments (UE) capable of operating over both cellular networks and wireless local area networks (WLAN) is an important step towards the evolution of next-generation integrated networks. For real-time applications, maintaining a seamless connectivity and an acceptable level of quality is quite important. Efficient vertical handoff algorithms are required to ensure the best exploitation of the available resources under certain quality constraints. This paper proposes a realistic performance analysis framework upon addressing relevant factors that affect the performance of a voice application within a heterogeneous network environment. While the existing works in this field relies on received signal strength (RSS) samples to estimate the WLAN usability, this paper also proposes an algorithm that takes into account the real-time packet error pattern along with RSS.