Effects of the vertical handover policy on the performance of internet applications

One of the major challenges posed by 4th generation (4G) network concept is that of integrating heterogeneous wireless networks technologies to build a globally interoperable system. In this context, issues like mobility management and session management have been widely addressed by researchers. In this paper we attempt to design effective vertical handover schemes applied to mobile users roaming across heterogeneous wireless access domains. The focus is put on how the performance of the Internet applications are affected by vertical handovers. We modeled a scenario of two interworking (WLAN and GPRS) access systems and run, by simulation, an analyses of how the connection discontinuity provoked by frequent vertical handovers between the two heterogeneous networks impacts on the performance of the application's sessions. © Springer-Verlag 2004.