Handover Management Research Articles

A comprehensive survey on handover management for vehicular ad hoc network based on 5G mobile networks technology

AbstractVehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a style of high‐mobility mobile ad hoc network where the mobile nodes are vehicles traveling across a road or a street. VANET was proposed to provide safety, comfortability, reliability, and security of vehicles driving. One of the serious challenges is handover (HO) problem that occurs when a vehicle moves from one network area covered by a roadside unit (RSU) to another network area covered by a different RSU. The fast mobility of vehicles and the limited coverage area of the RSU (without overlapping signals) should be considered in providing a seamless HO. This paper presents a comprehensive survey on HO management for VANET based on the new features of fifth‐generation (5G) mobile network technologies. The 5G mobile network technology provides enhanced characteristics that will fit the requirements of real‐time video streaming and assist to design an effective solution for the HO problem. In addition, this paper presents the reasons for HO failures and the limitations of available HO failure solutions. Furthermore, it highlights the potential proposed solutions that will tackle the HO failures. This survey will open up the gate of developing an optimal solution based on 5G for HO problem on VANET that might be used in vehicles manufacturing.

SDN/NFV‐based handover management approach for ultradense 5G mobile networks

SummaryWith the great increase of connected devices and new types of applications, mobile networks are witnessing exponential growth of traffic volume. To meet emerging requirements, it is widely agreed that the fifth‐generation mobile network will be ultradense and heterogeneous. However, the deployment of a high number of small cells in such networks poses challenges for the mobility management, including frequent, undesired, and ping‐pong handovers, not to mention issues related to increased delay and failure of the handover process. The adoption of software‐defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) technologies into 5G networks offers a new way to address the above‐mentioned challenges. These technologies offer tools and mechanisms to make networks flexible, programmable, and more manageable. The SDN has global network control ability so that various functions such as the handover control can be implemented in the SDN architecture to manage the handover efficiently. In this article, we propose a Software‐Defined Handover (SDHO) solution to optimize the handover in future 5G networks. In particular, we design a Software‐Defined Handover Management Engine (SDHME) to handle the handover control mechanism in 5G ultradense networks. The SDHME is defined in the application plane of the SDN architecture, executed by the control plane to orchestrate the data plane. Simulation results demonstrate that, compared with the conventional LTE handover strategy, the proposed approach significantly reduces the handover failure ratio and handover delay.

Handover performance analysis for managing D2D mobility in 5G cellular networks

Device-to-device (D2D) communication is seen as an important emerging technology and a hot research area for (5th Generation) cellular networks that takes advantage of the physical proximity of communicating devices. However, its implementation faces some technical issues such as interference management, resource allocation, mobility management, security and so on. Recently, many research works have tried to deal with those problems. In this study, the authors focus on D2D mobility management issue and they give a comparative study on the existing techniques in cellular networks managing the mobile devices (MDs) connections and maintaining service continuity when moving between coverage areas. First, they describe the different D2D handover management techniques. Second, through analysing and categorising a wide range of the latest research works on Distributed Mobility Management, they select some approaches that could be suitable for D2D mobility management in 5G cellular networks. Finally, they mathematically analyse the handover performance of the selected solutions, and compare them and they conclude that Software Defined Networking based solution outperforms the others in terms of handover delay, packet loss, ping-pong effect as well as the handover failure probability.

Space-terrestrial integrated mobility management via named data networking

In Future Space-Terrestrial Integrated Networks (FSTINs), mobility is the norm rather than the exception, the current TCP/IP architecture is not competent. As a promising future network architecture, Named Data Networking (NDN) can support content consumer mobility naturally, but the content producer mobility support remains a challenging problem. Most previous research simply considered this problem in terrestrial scenarios, which involve stable infrastructures to achieve node mobility management. In this paper, we consider the problem in an FSTIN scenario without special handover management infrastructures. Specifically, we propose a tracing-based producer mobility management scheme and an addressing-assisted forwarding method via NDN architecture. We formally describe Multi-Layered Satellite Networks via a Time Varying Graph model and define the foremost path calculating problem to calculate the route of space segment, as well as an algorithm that can function in both dense (connected) and sparse (delay/disruption tolerant) scenarios. Finally, we discuss the acceleration method that can improve the Space-Terrestrial Integrated forwarding efficiency. Performance evaluation demonstrates that the proposed scheme can support fast handover and efficient forwarding in the FSTIN scenario.

SDN-based handover scheme for multi-tier LTE/Femto and D2D networks

Femto Access Points (FAP) and Device-to-Device (D2D) communications have recently been considered as potential candidates for 5G network densification and cell-edge performance. Mobility and handover management is a major issue in heterogeneous networks (HetNet) offering different access technologies. Recently, many Fuzzy and Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) handover decision algorithms have been proposed to ensure Quality of Service (QoS), reduce the number of handovers and handover blocking probability of mobile users. However, network discovery is still an issue as it increases the total handover delay and drains the battery of the user equipment (UE). In addition, the UE may undergo high interference with other co-channel users after the handover is executed, thus limiting the overall network performance. Currently, the emerging Software Defined Networking (SDN) has been proposed in which one centralized controller can assist in the handover discovery, handover decision, and co-channel interference coordination. SDN-based handover algorithms ensure QoS, Quality of Experience (QoE), reduce delay and interference. In this paper, we will integrate the Fuzzy logic into the SDN to assist in FAPs and D2D discovery, and the decision of candidate networks based on the networks’ QoS parameters. Then, the UE will make the final handover decision by selecting the best network based on the predicted QoE using TOPSIS and AHP algorithms. Frequency reuse and appropriate power control are also applied in order to increase network capacity and reduce interference. Performance results show that the proposed SDN-based Fuzzy MADM handover scheme reduces unnecessary handovers, blocking probability and total handover delay. In addition, throughput is increased as the number of users increases.

QoS Aware Predictive Radio Resource Management Approach Based on MIH Protocol

The vision of next-generation wireless networks is based on the heterogeneity of different types of radio access technologies such as LTE/LTE-Advanced, WiMax, and Wi-Fi to achieve the demand of high data rate and good quality of service (QoS) to support multimedia streaming at accuracy levels. As a significant key toward achieving this objective, vertical handover management schemes have been broadly treated in the literature. This later mechanism could be redefined as a process of reallocating resources as result of roaming user from one technology to another. Therefore, the addressed issue is not only how to ensure a seamless mobility and end-to-end QoS guarantee but also how to reassign resource when requested and use all offered capacity without underuse it or overuse it. In this context, we propose a new scheme that involves vertical handover process and resource control mechanism by explicitly using multiple challenges to achieve a load balancing among available radio access technologies in order to improve average system utilization. From the radio resource management point of view, our optimized vertical handover procedure has the three following phases: 1) resource allocation estimation; 2) radio resource allocation decision; and 3) radio resources allocation and allocation notification. Detailed simulation analysis illustrates that our scheme is not complex as well as its ability to provide good performance in terms of overall QoS satisfaction in the system.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Optimization of QoS parameters using scheduling techniques in heterogeneous network

Multimedia applications in wireless communication have been increased in recent years. A variety of wireless access technologies is introduced for various needs. The abundant increase in mobile computing devices and different networking systems leads to the support of user's mobility on heterogeneous network. In general, the roaming users migrate between two different wireless technologies and their service must be supported by vertical handover (HO). Since the roaming users expect a rapid handover experience while switching from one wireless network to another, the handover operation must be enhanced by the networks. Various wireless technologies such as wireless LAN, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), and the 3G Partnership Project (3GPP) are interlaced to support many wireless services in rural, urban, and global scenarios. Moreover, quality of service (QoS) has become more significant in many applications where wireless network resources are utilized. In this paper, a handover management scheme is proposed for QoS enhancement in roaming users between WiMAX and WLAN by subscribers of networks belonging to the 3GPP standards. The proposed algorithms genetic queuing, proportionally fair queuing, and WiMAX aware load balancing are analyzed in the scheduling process during handover. The simulation is implemented using NS---2 and the experimental results are obtained for the proposed algorithms and compared with the standard scheme.

QoS-aware Cross Layer Handover Scheme for High-Speed vehicles

High-Speed vehicles can be considered as multiple mobile nodes that move together in a large-scale mobile network. High-speed makes the time allowed for a mobile node to complete a handover procedure shorter and more frequently. Hence, several protocols are used to manage the mobility of mobile nodes such as Network Mobility (NEMO). However, there are still some problems such as high handover latency and packet loss. So efficient handover management is needed to meet Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for real-time applications. This paper utilizes the cross-layer seamless handover technique for network mobility presented in cellular networks. It extends this technique to propose QoS-aware NEMO protocol which considers QoS requirements for real-time applications. A novel analytical framework is developed to compare the performance of the proposed protocol with basic NEMO using cost functions for realistic city mobility model. The numerical results show that QoS-aware NEMO protocol improves the performance in terms of handover latency, packet delivery cost, location update cost, and total cost.

Improvement of the Handover and Quality of Service on Software Defined Wireless Networks

The Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) is the business name given to the 802.11b and 802.11g IEEE standard by the WiFi Alliance, formerly known as Weca industry with more than 200 member companies dedicated to supporting the growth of wireless LANs. This standard is currently one of the most used standards in the world. The theoretical data rates of 802.11b are 11 Mb/s and 54 Mb/s for 802.11g. This article presents Handover's improvement performance and quality of service (QoS) parameters and they are: end-to-end delay, latency, jitter, lost packets, and Mean Opinion Score (MoS), under networks Wi-Fi with the help of the OMNeT 4.6 ++, by implementation of a new algorithm at the level of the SDN controller that allows handover management without breaking the connection by respecting the priority per class of traffic. The realization of this work is based on the intra-Wi-Fi mobility, that it is adopted by a macro mobility of level 3 and it is MIPv6 as well as it exploited the protocol of Voice over IP that it is SIP, and the implementation of SDN rules on the OpenFlow protocol.

Fuzzy Based Network Assignment and Link‐Switching Analysis in Hybrid OCC/LiFi System

In recent times, optical wireless communications (OWC) have become attractive research interest in mobile communication for its inexpensiveness and high‐speed data transmission capability and it is already recognized as complementary to radio‐frequency (RF) based technologies. Light fidelity (LiFi) and optical camera communication (OCC) are two promising OWC technologies that use a photo detector (PD) and a camera, respectively, to receive optical pulses. These communication systems can be implemented in all kinds of environments using existing light‐emitting diode (LED) infrastructures to transmit data. However, both networking layers suffer from several limitations. An excellent solution to overcoming these limitations is the integration of OCC and LiFi. In this paper, we propose a hybrid OCC and LiFi architecture to improve the quality‐of‐service (QoS) of users. A network assignment mechanism is developed for the hybrid system. A dynamic link‐switching technique for efficient handover management between networks is proposed afterward which includes switching provisioning based on user mobility and detailed network switching flow analysis. Fuzzy logic (FL) is used to develop the proposed mechanisms. A time‐division multiple access (TDMA) based approach, called round‐robin scheduling (RRS), is also adopted to ensure fairness in time resource allocation while serving multiple users using the same LED in the hybrid system. Furthermore, simulation results are presented taking different practical application scenarios into consideration. The performance analysis of the network assignment mechanism, which is provided at the end of the paper, demonstrates the importance and feasibility of the proposed scheme.

Multi-Criteria Handover Using Modified Weighted TOPSIS Methods for Heterogeneous Networks

Ultra-dense small cell deployment in future 5G networks is a promising solution to the ever increasing demand of capacity and coverage. However, this deployment can lead to severe interference and high number of handovers, which in turn cause increased signaling overhead. In order to ensure service continuity for mobile users, minimize the number of unnecessary handovers and reduce the signaling overhead in heterogeneous networks, it is important to model adequately the handover decision problem. In this paper, we model the handover decision based on the multiple attribute decision making method, namely Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The base stations are considered as alternatives, and the handover metrics are considered as attributes to selecting the proper base station for handover. In this paper, we propose two modified TOPSIS methods for the purpose of handover management in the heterogeneous network. The first method incorporates the entropy weighting technique for handover metrics weighting. The second proposed method uses a standard deviation weighting technique to score the importance of each handover metric. Simulation results reveal that the proposed methods outperformed the existing methods by reducing the number of frequent handovers and radio link failures, in addition to enhancing the achieved mean user throughput.

Authentication based on blind signature and ring signature algorithms during vertical handover in heterogeneous wireless networks

In the present 4G era, with the help of vertical handover (VHO), mobility and handover management are handled effectively across heterogeneous network as seamless and ubiquitous connections. The decision making process of VHO selects the best optimal access point. The research proposes a three tier model for handover and proposes two authentication algorithms, based on blind and ring signature, used during execution of VHO. The VHO model is developed in such a way that multiple parameters are used in every stage which includes selection of candidate networks during discovery, mathematical based decision making and authenticated execution. The network system allows the connections to be switched fairly without break or loss of QoS by properly combining the handover execution with a fair authentication procedure. This reduces unfairness and repudiation coming from distrusted network users. Our proposed model ensures continuous quality service through VHO bringing the solution in terms of correctness and efficiency.

Handover Management in Two-Tier Femtocell–Macrocell Network

Good mobile coverage and better data rate is key to customer satisfaction. For latest 4G and 5G technologies as well 5 bar mobile coverage is required, to perform at its best. Small cell technology like femtocell helps these latest mobile communication technologies to achieve their goal of better coverage and high data rate. Femto cells are low cost, low power and efficient way to achieve better coverage. It has ability to boost mobile signal in indoor or in areas with little or no mobile coverage. For successful deployment of femto cells in predominant macrocell network seamless communication in between these two is must. For uninterrupted communication, handover should be carefully handled between femtocell and macrocell when user is moving around femtocell. Handover management is quite challenging in integrated macrocell and femtocell network because of random deployment of femtocell in planned macrocell network. In this article, we have proposed new handover approach with call admission control for uninterrupted communication between femto cell and macrocell network. This approach also helps to avoid unnecessary handovers due to small coverage area of femtocells.

Ant colony prediction by using sectorized diurnal mobility model for handover management in PCS networks

Recently, mobile phones are extremely used in lifestyle. Historical records of mobile users (MUs) play an important role in predicting future movements of new visitors of the underlying registration area. Handover (handoff) is one of important quality of service (QoS) parameter that affects the continuity of the call when MUs move from a cell to its neighbors in the same registration area (RA). In this paper, a novel ant based Algorithm, has been introduced, which is called Ant Prediction Algorithm (APA). The main target of APA is to reduce handover impact on the performance of personal communication service (PCS) networks. To accomplish such aim, APA tries to minimize the number of dropped calls by predicting the long-term movement of MUs based on the Sectored Diurnal Mobility Model (SDMM). APA consists of two Parts, namely; (i) the Ant Prediction Engine (APE), which relies on the movement history of the other MUs to predict the future movement of the considered MU, and (ii) the SDMM design, which predicts the exact future sector and cell of the considered MU. Simulations have been presented to validate the proposed scheme in terms of prediction accuracy and handoff blocking probability.

Analysis of Handover Performance in LTE Femtocells Network

Handover management is one of the main factors representing the effectiveness of every wireless network technology. Due to the special characteristics of a femtocell, unnecessary handover occurs mo...

Enabling multimedia aware vertical handover Management in Internet of Things based heterogeneous wireless networks

Enabling seamless connectivity in Internet of Things (IoT) based heterogeneous wireless networks and pervasive use of smartphones in daily life require high data speed and always-best-connected services. However, providing vertical handover management in heterogeneous wireless networks is a difficult and challenging task. Moreover, various issues are present in the current vertical handover management schemes such as inappropriate handover triggering, high handover delay, wrong network selection, etc. In order to address the aforementioned issues, we propose a generic vertical handover management scheme. Our research is twofold; firstly, the Mobile Node (MN) dynamically checks the data rate required by the applications running on the MN’s device. If the data rate drops below a predefined threshold, the MN initiates the handover. Secondly, the network selection is performed by considering various parameters such as end-to-end delay, jitter, Bit Error Rate, and packet loss. The Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) optimization algorithm uses the above parameters to select the target network with minimum handover delay and time. The proposed scheme is compared with the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW), Weighted Product Method (WPM), Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), and Fuzzy TOPSIS in context of energy consumption, throughput, average MN’s stay time in a network, handover delay, and handover time. The experimental results show that the proposed vertical handover management scheme outperforms the existing schemes used for similar purpose.

Distributed mobility management with mobile Host Identity Protocol proxy

The architectural evolution from hierarchical to flatter networks creates new challenges such as single points of failure and bottlenecks, non-optimal routing paths, scalability problems, and long handover delays. The cellular networks have been hierarchical so that they are largely built on centralized functions based on which their handover mechanisms have been built. They need to be redesigned and/or carefully optimized. The mobility extension to Host Identity Protocol (HIP) proxy, mobile HIP Proxy (MHP), provides a seamless and secure handover for the Mobile Host in the hierarchical network. However, the MHP cannot ensure the same handover performance in flatter network because the MHP has also utilized the features offered by the hierarchical architecture. This paper extends the MHP to distributed mobile HIP proxy (DMHP). The performance evaluation of the DMHP in comparison to MHP and other similar mobility solutions demonstrates that DMHP does indeed perform well in the flatter networks. Moreover, the DMHP supports both efficient multi-homing and handover management for many mobile hosts at the same time to the same new point of attachment.

Fuzzy based multi-criteria vertical handover decision modeling in heterogeneous wireless networks

Vertical handover gain significant importance due to the enhancements in mobility models by the Fourth Generation (4G) technologies. However, these enhancements are limited to specific scenarios and hence do not provide support for generic mobility. Similarly, various schemes are proposed based on these mobility models but most of them are suffered from the high packet loss, frequent handovers, too early and late handovers, inappropriate network selection, etc. To address these challenges, a generic vertical handover management scheme for heterogeneous wireless networks is proposed in this article. The proposed scheme works in three phases. In the first phase, a handover triggering approach is designed to identify the appropriate place for initiating handover based on the estimated coverage area of a WLAN access point or cellular base station. In the second phase, fuzzy rule based system is designed to eliminate the inappropriate networks before deciding an optimal network for handover. In the third phase, a network selection scheme is developed based on the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) decision mechanism. Various parameters such as delay, jitter, Bit Error Rate (BER), packet loss, communication cost, response time, and network load are considered for selecting an optimal network. The proposed scheme is tested in a mobility scenario with different speeds of a mobile node ranging from very low to very high. The simulation results are compared with the existing decision models used for network selection and handover triggering approaches. The proposed scheme outperforms these schemes in terms of energy consumption, handover delay and time, packet loss, good put, etc.

Handover management with call admission control in integrated femtocell-macrocell network

For achieving high data rate and better indoor coverage and to fulfil high capacity demand, low power-low cost femtocell network is very good option. For successful deployment of femtocell, smooth integration of femtocell network in macrocell network and seamless communication between macrocell and femtocell network is very important. Conventional handoff algorithms used in macrocells need some modifications to satisfy handover management in integrated macrocell femtocell network. In this paper, we have proposed a new hybrid handover approach with call admission control policy which takes care of seamless communication between integrated femtocell-macrocell networks, effective utilisation of femtocells and avoids unnecessary handovers.

Secure and Efficient Protocol for Route Optimization in PMIPv6-Based Smart Home IoT Networks

The communication in the Smart Home Internet of Things (SH-IoT) comprising various electronic devices and sensors is very sensitive and crucial. In addition, the key requirements of the SH-IoT include channel security, handover support, mobility management, and consistent data rates. Proxy mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) is considered as one of the core solutions to handle extreme mobility; however, the default PMIPv6 cannot ensure performance enhancement in SH-IoT scenarios, i.e., Route Optimization (RO). The existing security protocols for PMIPv6 cannot support secure RO for smart home IoT services, where mobile nodes (MNs) communicate with home IoT devices not belonging to their domain. Motivated by this, a secure protocol is proposed, which uses trust between PMIPv6 domain and smart home to ensure security as well as performance over the path between MNs and home IoT devices. The proposed protocol includes steps for secure RO and handover management, where mutual authentication, key exchange, perfect forward secrecy, and privacy are supported. The correctness of the proposed protocol is formally analyzed using BAN-logic and Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA). Furthermore, network simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance efficiency of the proposed protocol. The results show that the proposed approach is capable of providing secure transmission by resolving the RO problem in PMIPv6 along with the reduction in handover latency, end to end delay and packet loss, and enhancement in throughput and transmission rate even during the handover phase.