Vertical Handoff Decision Algorithms for Providing Optimized Performance in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

There are currently a large variety of wireless access networks, including the emerging Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANETs). A large variety of applications utilizing these networks will demand features such as real-time, high-availability and even instantaneous high-bandwidth in some cases. Therefore, it is imperative for network service providers to make the best possible use of the combined resources of available heterogeneous networks (WLAN, UMTS, VANETs, Wi-MAX, etc.) for connection support. When connections need to migrate between heterogeneous networks for performance and high-availability reasons, seamless vertical handoff is a necessary first step. In the near future, vehicular and other mobile applications will expect seamless vertical handoff between heterogeneous access networks.