Packet drop reduction in horizontal handover

Today´s mobile communication networks support not just simple mobile voice and data services but also access to mobile Internet-based services with varying bandwidth and quality-of-service requirements. Step towards NGN leads to heterogeneity and complexity. The rapidly growing demand for “anywhere, anytime” high-speed Internet access will be one of the major forthcoming challenges for mobile network operators. Handoff is a critical function that enables mobile nodes to stay connected to the wireless network by switching the data connection from one WLAN to another. The characteristics of wireless systems provide a major challenge for reliable transport of multimedia since it is highly sensitive to interference and link or channel change, which may cause delay, packet loss, and jitter. An analysis of existing protocols is being carried out. This paper presents a modification for existing algorithm horizontal handover as a part of study on handovers in next generation networks.