A dynamic context-aware access network selection for handover in heterogeneous network environments

Context-awareness is a key ingredient in any ubiquitous and pervasive system and provides intelligence to the system, allowing computing devices to make appropriate and timely decisions on behalf of users. One of the important aspects of mobility management is the dynamic selection of the best access network for a multimodal device when there is a need to perform a handover. Multi Attribute Decision Making (MADM) is one of the successfully used methods in the literature to solve decision making problems. The problem of access network selection has been addressed by decision making methods based on available network information. However, the quality of information is not considered. Weighted Product Method (WPM) is an MADM method that penalizes the unreliable attributes in making a decision. It does not suffer from ranking abnormalities and its cheaper computational cost makes it a suitable candidate for decision making in a dynamic situation. In this paper, an algorithm for a context-aware network selection is proposed that is based on a modified WPM for access network selection. We use a weight distribution method based on sensitivity analysis of WPM for the most influential criteria based on the state of user at a given time. Our evaluation is based on comparing WPM with TOPSIS that is successfully used in many decision making problems.