Handoff Control Research Articles

Bitrate-adaptive and quality-aware HTTP video streaming with the multi-access edge computing server handoff control

Bitrate-adaptive and quality-aware HTTP video streaming with the multi-access edge computing server handoff control

Handoff Control and Resource Allocation for RAN Slicing in IoT Based on DTN: An Improved Algorithm Based on Actor–Critic Framework

As a three-layer association of Internet of things equipment (IoTE) -network slicing (NS) -base station (BS) in radio access network (RAN) slicing, handoff control and resource allocation has become an important but complicated issue. In addition, the centralized controller has a difficult grasping the network situation in real time. In view of this, the problem of handoff control in the RAN slicing are investigated in the digital twin network (DTN), with the goal of maximizing the long-term utility about user satisfaction and handoff cost. Then an improved algorithm based on actor-critic framework is suggested, which is called HCRA. Specifically, the actor component contains neural networks for Handoff Control and an optimizer for Resource Allocation, and then the critic component evaluates the handoff and resource allocation actions of the actor component to guide the optimization of actions in the actor component. The simulation results show that HCRA can obtain better performance than benchmark algorithms.

Handoff control strategy of cyber physical systems under dynamic data attack

With the continuous development of Internet technology and Internet of things technology, digital and intelligent industrial system will continue to iterate. At the same time, as the core technology of the new generation of industrial system, cyber physical systems has also received more and more attention. At present, there are network security problems such as virus intrusion, denial of service and so on in the cyber physical systems, and the corresponding dynamic data attack will damage the cyber physical systems. Based on this, this paper will start with the information physical switching control theory under the dynamic data attack, and first establish the relevant mathematical model of the cyber physical systems for analysis, so as to realize the stability of the cyber physical system and the sensitivity of the handoff strategy so as to realize the stability of the cyber physical systems The sensitivity of switching strategy. In order to achieve the stability of the cyber physical systems under dynamic data attack, based on the control initiative related theorem, an innovative steady-state correction algorithm of the cyber physical systems is proposed, so that the system can achieve good control performance under dynamic data attack. The simulation results show that the proposed control strategy is effective.

Channel/Beam Handoff Control in Multi-Beam Antenna Based Cognitive Radio Networks

A novel spectrum handoff scheme, called feature stacking (FEAST) is proposed to achieve the optimal “channel + beam” handoff (CBH) control in cognitive radio networks (CRNs) with multi-beam smart antennas. FEAST uses the online supervised learning based on the support vector machine to maximize the long-term quality of experience of user data. The spectrum handoff uses the mixed preemptive/non-preemptive M/G/1 queueing model with a discretion rule in each beam to overcome the interruptions from the primary users and to resolve the channel contentions among different classes of secondary users (SUs). A real-time CBH scheme is designed to allow the packets in an interrupted beam of a SU to be detoured through its neighboring beams, depending their available capacity and queue sizes. The proposed scheme adapts to the dynamic channel conditions and performs spectrum decision in time- and space-varying CRN conditions. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our CBH-based packet detouring scheme, and show that the proposed FEAST-based spectrum decision can adapt to the complex channel conditions and improves the quality of real-time data transmissions compared to the conventional spectrum handoff schemes.

K‐MING: A mobile proxy handoff control scheme for proximate group‐based geodata sharing

SummaryThis work adopts a mobile social network in proximity (MSNP)–centric group touring service concept to share geo–points of interest's (POIs') data among mobile users belonging to the same touring group. In a group‐based touring service, a mobile user can create a group in the MSNP that can consist of some clusters in which some members having the 3G/3.5G/4G cellular network service are selected as cluster leaders to enable their Wi‐Fi hot spot functions as mobile proxies. After that, each group member can join one of the clusters by connecting with a cluster leader's Wi‐Fi hot spot. Thereafter, each cluster leader downloads geo‐POIs' data using 3G/3.5G/4G cellular network and then shares the downloaded POIs' data with its cluster members through its Wi‐Fi hot spot. This work proposed a handoff mechanism such that each mobile user can handoff from its currently connected cluster to the other one that belongs to the same MNSP group. The main handoff concern is that each handheld device only allows a limited number of handheld devices to connect with its Wi‐Fi hot spot at the same time. This work proposed a K‐member‐limited MSNP‐based INter Group handoff scheme called K‐MING to tackle the handoff problem. The performance analysis shows that K‐MING for the group touring scenario has better performance for the sharing of geo‐POIs' data downloading in terms of average power consumption and average downloaded data volume from 3G/3.5G/4G cellular network than that of the individual touring scenario.

Hybrid Optical Wireless Network for Future SAGO-Integrated Communication Based on FSO/VLC Heterogeneous Interconnection

Free-space optics (FSO) and visible light communication (VLC) share the same optical wireless features, such as high data rate, license free, energy efficient, flexible access, and high degree of security. A hybrid optical wireless network based on FSO/VLC heterogeneous interconnection is presented here for future space-air-ground-ocean-integrated communication architecture, especially in the radio-frequency-sensitive (RF) or security-required environments. The functional modules of the hybrid network coordinator are defined, along with the implementation and deployment details. Three fundamental network-layer mechanisms are designed in the coordinator including user identification and localization, user mobility and handoff control, and routing and traffic management. An experimental platform is built to evaluate the transmission performance of the presented hybrid network, and a complete data aggregation/transmission/distribution procedure based on heterogeneous interconnection is first realized, which includes two-segment 1.0-m 450-Mb/s orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing-based VLC transmissions interconnected by one-segment 430-m 0.96-Gb/s on-off keying (OOK)-based nonturbulent FSO transmission, with the bit error rate under the forward-error-correction limit (3.8 × 10−3 ). The VLC transmission performances under three speed levels and FSO transmission performances under five typical air-quality conditions are experimentally demonstrated, which validate the feasibility of the proposed hybrid optical wireless network.

Optimal Spectrum Handoff Control for CRN Based on Hybrid Priority Queuing and Multi-Teacher Apprentice Learning

An optimal spectrum handoff scheme for cognitive radio networks (CRNs) is presented in this paper. This scheme has two novel features: 1) Hybrid rule-based priority queuing model : To overcome the limitations of preemptive resume priority and nonpreemptive resume priority (PRP/NPRP) queuing models, a hybrid queuing model with discretion rule is proposed to characterize the spectrum access priority among secondary users (SUs). This hybrid queuing model is then used to calculate the channel waiting time during spectrum handoff; and 2) Multiteacher apprentice learning : Unlike existing CRN cognition engine designs that focus on spectrum adaptation through SU self-learning (i.e., an SU learns how to adapt to the dynamic CRN environment by itself), we propose the concept of multiteacher knowledge transfer , wherein the multiple SUs that already have mature spectrum adaptation strategies share their knowledge with an inexperienced SU. Our simulation results show that the proposed new designs improve the spectrum handoff accuracy for the complex CRN environments.

Integrated Multi-service Handoff Mechanism with QoS-Support Strategy in Mobile Cloud Computing

Mobile devices are becoming the primary platforms for many users who always roam around and access the cloud computing applications. Using cloud computing services extensively and offloading local applications to the cloud, facilitate mobile devices keep multiple services online at the same time. Since the mobile device may move fast and session handoff among access networks comes up frequently, multiple services initiate handoff procedure results in lots of redundant signaling. The current handoff mechanisms only make the handoff control for each service individually, which brings much unnecessary energy consumption and ignores the different Quality of Service (QoS) requirement during handoff execution. To solve these issues, we propose an improved multi-services handoff mechanism, which uses the list method of session initial protocol to make all active services execute handoff together. And considering to support the QoS for each active service during handoff procedure, the differentiate policy for multi-service media transfer is included based on the integrated handoff signaling. Analytic model and simulation are developed to investigate the new mechanism. The results demonstrate that the improved multi-service handoff mechanism can efficiently save energy consumption for mobile devices and realize seamless handoff.

Location and Direction Estimation-Based Resource Reservation Scheme for the Handoff in Micro Cellular Multimedia Networks

This paper proposes resource reservation scheme for the handoff control to accommodate mobile multimedia traffic using the location estimation and the direction estimation. This proposed scheme uses a novel mobile tracking method based on fuzzy multi-criteria decision making, in which uncertain parameters such as pilot signal strength, distance between the mobile terminal and the base station, the moving direction, and the previous location are used in the decision process using the aggregation function in fuzzy set theory. With the position information, the moving direction is determined. The handoff requests for real time sessions are handled based on the direction prediction and the resource reservation scheme. The radio resources in the estimated adjacent cells should be reserved and allocated to guarantee the continuity of the real-time sessions. In performance analysis, our proposed scheme provides a better performance than the previous schemes.

A Reinforcement Sensor Embedded Vertical Handoff Controller for Vehicular Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Vehicular communication platforms that provide real-time access to wireless networks have drawn more and more attention in recent years. IEEE 802.11p is the main radio access technology that supports communication for high mobility terminals, however, due to its limited coverage, IEEE 802.11p is usually deployed by coupling with cellular networks to achieve seamless mobility. In a heterogeneous cellular/802.11p network, vehicular communication is characterized by its short time span in association with a wireless local area network (WLAN). Moreover, for the media access control (MAC) scheme used for WLAN, the network throughput dramatically decreases with increasing user quantity. In response to these compelling problems, we propose a reinforcement sensor (RFS) embedded vertical handoff control strategy to support mobility management. The RFS has online learning capability and can provide optimal handoff decisions in an adaptive fashion without prior knowledge. The algorithm integrates considerations including vehicular mobility, traffic load, handoff latency, and network status. Simulation results verify that the proposed algorithm can adaptively adjust the handoff strategy, allowing users to stay connected to the best network. Furthermore, the algorithm can ensure that RSUs are adequate, thereby guaranteeing a high quality user experience.

Joint resource allocation for WLAN&WCDMA integrated networks based on spectral bandwidth mapping

Next wireless network aims to integrate heterogeneous wireless access networks by sharing wireless resource. The spectral bandwidth mapping concept is proposed to uniformly describe the resource in heterogeneous wireless networks. The resources of codes and power levels in WCDMA system as well as statistical time slots in WLAN are mapped into equivalent bandwidth which can be allocated in different networks and layers. The equivalent bandwidth is jointly distributed in call admission and vertical handoff control process in an integrated WLAN/WCDMA system to optimize the network utility and guarantee the heterogeneous QoS required by calls. Numerical results show that, when the incoming traffic is moderate, the proposed scheme could receive 5%–10% increase of system revenue compared to the MDP based algorithms.

Novel Handoff Method for the Integrated 3G and Nemo Network

This paper aims to revise the handoff method for integrated 3G and NEMO network. The method includes horizontal handoff and vertical handoff for the heterogeneous wireless network. This paper took advantage of the NEMO’s characteristics to propose a novel horizontal handoff method. We adopt the conception of hierarchical network to design a vertical handoff method. Our method decreases handoff latency, network latency and control packets for handoff. The simulated results demonstrate our method is better than the traditional NEMO.

An MPEG-21 SIP-Based Session Mobility Management for Ubiquitous Video Streaming over the Home Network and Vehicular Network Environment

In this paper, we develop an MPEG-21 SIP-based session mobility management (M21-SIP) for ubiquitous video streaming over heterogeneous networks, which are over the home network and vehicular network environment in our study. Ubiquitous video streaming means that the streaming session keeps continuity even when the attached network and/or the user device is changed. To realize the ubiquitous video streaming service in a ubiquitous multimedia cyberspace, an MPEG-4 scalable video coder that can support a combined quality-of-presentation (QoP) and adapt to complicated networking situations is firstly proposed. Additionally, in the proposed M21-SIP session mobility management, the corresponding information about users' authentication, the speed of vehicles, the capability of user device, etc., can be described using the MPEG-21 like XML technique. The improved SIP protocol is able to bring the aforementioned information and play a role of session signaling, e.g., session initiation and handoff control. Furthermore, with advances of scalable video coding, a hybrid QoP-decision rule is designed to determine a proper spatiotemporal resolution and SNR quality. In our experiments, we will exhibit the performance of our proposed M21-SIP session mobility management scheme and video quality adaptation scheme over the home network and vehicular network environment.

Mobility Management for Video Streaming on Heterogeneous Networks

This article discusses how ubiquitous video streaming platform can let people enjoy continuous multimedia services at any time, in any location, and with any computing device. There are several technical challenges to be met in the process of achieving this goal. These challenges entail developing sophisticated session handoff control, session descriptions, communication signaling, and adaptive video streaming, among other factors.

Enhanced IMS Handoff Mechanism for QoS Support over Heterogeneous Network

IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) is over IP network architecture, but mobile IP cannot directly support session mobility controlled by session initiation protocol-based signaling. The long signaling delay for session reestablishment in application layer always results in session interruptions during the handoff. Therefore, handoff poses a challenge for quality of service (QoS) maintenance in IMS that targets to offer real-time multimedia applications over wireless mobile networks. The existing approaches to solve this problem depend on the advance resource reservation and the optimization of handoff control. Unfortunately, big cost of the advance resource reservation in neighboring domains is a major problem that leads to a serious signaling load and a waste of wireless bandwidth. To solve this issue, we present an enhanced IMS handoff mechanism (EHM) based on user mobility prediction to save network resources by avoiding multiple useless advance reservations. In addition, to support the heterogeneous access networks in IMS domain, EHM evolves a network selective scheme to utilize the network resources more efficiently. The architecture of EHM and the advance QoS negotiation signaling are also presented. We model the cost, the handoff delay and the session blocking probability for EHM and the previous work. Analytical and simulation results show that EHM can enhance the handoff performance, such as reducing resource reservation cost greatly, decreasing session reestablishment delay and making good use of multiple access network resources.

On the impact of soft vertical handoff on optimal voice admission control in PCF-based WLANs loosely coupled to 3G networks

Soft vertical handoff (VHO) and admission control are usually considered as two independent mechanisms ensuring respectively packet-level QoS and call-level QoS for voice calls in loosely coupled 3G/WLAN networks. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of the soft VHO on the blocking performance of the optimal voice admission control in different mobility environments where the WLAN operates the Point Coordination Function (PCF). For this purpose, we propose an accurate analytical mobility model for the soft VHO region. Then, based on the proposed model, we derive and analyze the blocking and dropping probability expressions of the optimal voice admission control algorithm in the 3G network loosely coupled to the PCF-based WLAN. Results show us that a resource-efficient soft handoff (RESHO) performs significantly better than a static-threshold soft handoff (STSHO) particularly in WLAN mobility environments. In fact, the 3G new call blocking probability reduction gained by using RESHO compared to STSHO is largely increased when mobile station (MS) velocities have low mean and high variability which typically characterizes theWLAN mobility environment. Besides, results show us that RESHO reduces all blocking and dropping probabilities.We believe that the provided model and the presented results could help design efficient MS controlled soft VHO algorithms for emergent loosely coupled 3G/WLAN networks.

A Host Mobility Support with Adaptive Network Selection Method in Hy-brid Wireless Environment

The B3G or 4G of cellular/wireless communications network is expected to be purely IP-based and consist of heterogeneous access networks from 3G cellular, WiFi, WiMAX and a converged core network. To sup-port the mobile host in the hybrid overlay wireless, a cross-layer vertical handoff control method has been proposed. Implemented architecture is composed of four part; Connection Profile Manager (CPM), Net-work Access Assistance (NAA), Neuro-Fuzzy Decision Engine (NFDE), and Peer-bind Connection Manager (PCM). The most effective connection is selected based on the attributes from the multi-layer platform that provided handoff decision component which is respon-sible for handoff decision. The proposed network selection algorithm is based on hybrid neuro-fuzzy concept with low packet loss and latency. We have analyzed our implemented model on different scena-rios. Results of the experiment indicate the advantages of the proposed scheme.

The handoff control scheme for computing powerless devices and its applications in the digital home network

The evolution of wireless transmission technology enables users to have multimedia services anywhere in the digital home network. In this paper, we propose a handoff control scheme called Computing Powerless Handoff (CP-Handoff) for devices without computation capability, such as the light-weight Bluetooth (LW-BT) headset. The main concern of the CP-Handoff is that the client device doesn’t have the computation capability. The main function of the computing powerless client device is to send/receive signals and play the audio data. Thus, how to have the handoff control when a computing powerless client device is switched from one access point to another access point becomes a problem to be resolved. A typical example is in the BT wireless network environment. The LW-BT headset is dedicated for audio applications and doesn’t have extra computation capability. The CP-Handoff puts all handoff computation overhead on the master BT device, such that the LW-BT headset is unaware of the handoff. Based on the proposed CP-Handoff control scheme, a Ubiquitous Audio Access Platform (UAAP) is proposed and developed to allow users to access audio files using the LW-BT headset in the digital home network when they are roaming. The evaluation results show that the proposed CP-Handoff only needs 1.17 s to prepare the AVDTP session handoff and 0.38 s for the AVDTP session handoff. The transmission of audio packets to the LW-BT headset is only suspended for 0.38 s. The audio packet buffering scheme and retransmission mechanism ensure that the LW-BT headset can resume lost audio packets during handoff.

Integrated power and handoff control for next generation wireless networks

In this paper, joint downlink power control and handoff design is formulated as optimization problems that are amenable to dynamic programming (DP). Based on the DP solutions which are impractical, two new algorithms suitable for next generation wireless networks are proposed. The first one is an integrated hard handoff/power control scheme that endeavors a tradeoff between three performance criteria: transmitted power, number of handoffs, and call quality. The second is a soft handoff/power control algorithm that also takes into account the additional cost of utilizing soft handoff. The proposed algorithms present a paradigm shift in integrated handoff/power control by capturing the tradeoff between user satisfaction and network overhead, therefore enjoy the advantages of joint resource allocation, and provide significant improvement over existing methods. The achievable gains and the tradeoffs in both algorithms are verified through simulations.

Call admission and handoff control in multi-tier cellular networks: algorithms and analysis

In this paper, we investigate a call-admission and handoff-control framework for multi-tier cellular networks. We first propose and compare Call-Admission Control (CAC) algorithms based on the cell-dwelling time, by studying their impact on the handoff-call dropping and new-call blocking probabilities and the channel partitioning between the two tiers. Our results show that a simple, cell-dwelling-time-insensitive algorithm performs better under various mixes of user mobilities and call types. Moreover, there is an optimal channel partition of the overall spectrum between the tiers which minimizes the dropping and blocking probabilities for the two different CAC algorithms studied in this paper. Once the call is admitted into the network, we propose and compare various handoff- queuing strategies to reduce the call dropping probability. We show that implementing a queuing framework in one of the tiers (especially the upper, i.e., macrocellular, tier), results in a significant reduction in the dropping probability.