ODCSSS gain

"Odysseus students should gain strength from their numbers both prior, during and after this internship program. We hope these students will form connections with their peers and mentors that will last well beyond the 12 weeks with us"

Performance of Group Handover in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

As multi-mode wireless devices become more popular, users will have the choice of being always best connected for their current application in their current context. Most university campuses support a number of WLAN networks across their campus. Recently handset devices are beginning to support built-in WiFi cards. In this environment much work has still to be done on handover algorithms to ensure high quality of service (QoS) over seamless connectivity.

Imagine the scenario where a class of college students are on the move from a lecture in room A to another lecture in room B, as they move between the classes they are using the WLAN or UMTS network to support their various applications. Since the users are all students, the majority of them will only use the free campus WLAN, although a small minority may deem their applications important enough to spend money communicating on the UMTS network.

The aim of the project is to study the handover performance of a group of mobile devices as they move simultaneously from one network to another, and to propose an intelligent algorithm to support the movement of the group with the best possible QoS.

The student will create an NS2 model with two overlapping WLANs and a number of multi-mode wireless devices that can handover from one WLAN to another. They will also include the functionality to handover to a UMTS network. The student will then examine the horizontal and vertical handover combinations that will maximise the satisfaction for the majority of the users in the network.

Relevance of the Project to "Technologies for Social Connectedness"

This project will examine the impact of a group of multiple competing users simultaneously handing over from one network to another, and look for a suitable algorithm to maximise the social welfare of the group.

Demonstratable Outcome

The outcome of the project will be a handover algorithm that is designed to take into consideration the impact of multiple users simultaneously switching network. This algorithm with be tested and validated using a simulation model.

Supervisors and Mentors:
Supervisor: Dr Gabriel-Miro Muntean
Supervisor: Dr Olga Ormond