Network Selection Algorithm for Multiservice Multimode Terminals in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

The rapid popularization of multimode terminals that simultaneously run multiple services (such as browsing web pages during a video session) has brought a decent amount of attention to the network selection problem of multimode terminals. However, most network selection algorithms proposed for vertical handoff are only suitable for terminals running a single service. This paper proposes a network selection algorithm for multiservice multimode terminals in heterogeneous wireless networks. The algorithm considers user preferences, network attributes, and service characteristics. Entropy and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) are used to calculate the objective weights of the network attributes and the weights determined by the service characteristics, respectively. The comprehensive weights of network attributes are obtained by combining the user preferences and service priority. At the same time, different utility functions are used to calculate the utility values of the network attributes for multiservice. Finally, the simple additive weighting (SAW) method is used to synthesize the utility values and the comprehensives weights, while the most appropriate network is selected by a technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) and a threshold. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can accurately select the most appropriate network by considering different factors. Compared to the existing two MMT network selection algorithms, it can reduce the number of vertical handovers and obtain better user experience while satisfying user's preferences and service's requirements, thus solving the multiservice multimode terminals network selection problem.