A reactive vertical handover approach for WiFi-UMTS dual-mode terminals

In this work we describe a reactive algorithm for management of mobile controlled vertical handover (VHO) in dual-mode terminals provided with UMTS and IEEE 802.11 network interface cards (NICs). The VHO aims at providing service continuity and maximize throughput while limiting the so called ldquoping-pong effectldquo. We collected experimental results and provided an assessment of its performance. Namely, in the presented statistics is discussed how channel bandwidth estimation and limitation of handover frequency can affect maximization of throughput.