QoS-aware network selection for seamless multimedia service

In heterogeneous wireless environments which change dynamically, the optimal network selection problem is one of the key issues. This paper proposes a network selection scheme based on the required bandwidth, which estimates the bandwidth required to satisfy the quality of service (QoS) requirements of the target service. Required bandwidth can be estimated from the signal strength of each access path and the QoS requirements such as delay, packet loss, burst size, etc. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve higher throughput or lower cost or lower power consumption according to the user preference, which outperforms the signal strength based network selection schemes.