Location-aware network selection mechanism in heterogeneous wireless networks

The heterogeneity of the wireless network environment offers the possibility to the mobile user to select between several available radio access network technologies. However, selecting the network that enables the best connectivity is not trivial given that in general the network characteristics vary widely, not only in time, but also depending on the user location within each network. In this context, this paper proposes a user location-aware network selection solution which aims at improving content delivery in such a heterogeneous wireless network environment by selecting the best network. Based on the existing network performance-related information and mobile user location and speed, the network that offers the best support for content delivery along the user path is selected as the target network and the handover is triggered. Simulation results show that the proposed solution improves the content delivery quality in comparison with other network selection mechanisms.