Reliability modelling of access point selection and handovers in heterogeneous wireless environments

It is generally recognized that wireless access is getting more and more the preferred way to interact with services. For critical services the reliability of the service session is crucial. We propose a modelling approach for prediction of the reliability of a session in a multi operator multi technology wireless environment. The model allows comparison of different trajectories of access points and handovers along a projected route when the user service is dual homed. We propose to extend Media Independent Handover (MIH) to support the collection of measurement reports from user equipments and signalling in the networks for prediction of session reliability. The proposed model can be used to find the optimal access point selection and handovers for a dual homed service, where the session reliability is basis for the handover decision.