Adaptive Handovers in heterogeneous networks using fuzzy MADM

In next generation wireless network mobile terminals will have access to different wireless network technologies. Mobile terminals will switch (Handover) its connections from one access network to other access network of same (Horizontal Handover) or different technology (Vertical Hanover) according to QoS (Quality of Service) demand of applications or user preferences. Vertical Handover is an expensive process in terms of signaling and delay therefore multiple criteria should be consider in handover decision making which complicate the handover process. Therefore optimization of decision making process is currently an important issue for research. In this paper we applied fuzzy Multi Attribute Decision Making (MADM) in handover decision making. Fuzzy MADM will eliminate the ambiguity in decision making because of different, contradictory and imprecise data collected from different sources. In this paper we also proposed a new User Adaptive Fuzzy MADM handover decision scheme. In addition we applied different fuzzy MADM methods i.e. TOPSIS, SAW, Maximin, ELECTRE and AHP to find out best alternative for handover and to evaluate the performance of these methods. At the end results of popular fuzzy MADM methods are compared.