Intelligent access network selection for data offloading in heterogeneous networks

The selection of the most appropriate access network during handover or data offloading in heterogeneous wireless networks plays a vital role in providing the required Quality of Service (QoS) to mobile subscribers. The 3^rd Partnership Project (3GPP) has therefore introduced the Access Network Discovery and Selection Function(ANDSF) in the core network to provide the user equipment(UE) with the required information for the discovery and selection of non-3GPP networks such as wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). Current ANDSF provides statically configured information which cannot guarantee the user QoS requirements. The proposed solution in this paper presents a scheme that provides the ANDSF with real time network performance indicators, which are used as input to a multi attribute decision making (MADM) algorithm implemented in the ANDSF for ranking of available access networks and providing inter system mobility policy to the UE. The results show an efficient access network selection policy that can provided the UE with the appropriate target access network for data offloading.