Application of ELECTRE to Network Selection in A Hetereogeneous Wireless Network Environment

Inter-working of existing packet switched wireless access technologies can help make services ubiquitously available. However this means that the services will have to be delivered over a heterogeneous mix of access technologies. There are several technical challenges that have to be overcome in such an environment, with selection of an optimal service delivery network being one of the most important issues. Choosing a nonoptimal network can result in problems such as the use of expensive access types or poor service experience. Multi attribute decision making (MADM) algorithms have been considered in the past to rank the candidate networks in a preference order. While many types of MADM algorithms exist, the decision maker may choose to use a particular type of algorithm to solve a decision problem based on an assessment of the suitability of the algorithm to the problem space. This paper adapts ELECTRE, a type of MADM algorithm that performs pair-wise comparisons amongst the alternatives, to solve the problem of network selection. The algorithm has been modified so that it is able to provide complete ranking of networks even in scenarios where the utility of some attributes is nonmonotonic. The algorithm has been evaluated by applying it to a network selection scenario in a heterogeneous wireless network environment.