A Seamless Vertical Handover Scheme for End-to-End Reconfigurability Systems

The pouring of more and more attractive radio access technologies (RATs) with complementary characteristics has inspired the trends of interworking and convergence in future wireless systems. End-to-end reconfigurability (E²R) is an approach toward the convergence of diverse RATs. This paper aims at investigating an effective seamless vertical handover (VHO) scheme for E²R systems. The system model supporting the VHO scheme is brought forward. A network sort algorithm is developed enabling terminals to select the most appropriate network to handover. Particularly, we propose a novel handover trigger algorithm based on quality of service (QoS) evaluation allowing terminals to initiate a handover when the QoS is lower than their expected value. Simulation results reveal that the proposed VHO scheme enhances the user satisfaction as well as optimizes the overall network performance.