The report has been written as a project for 10th semester during the period of 2011 February 1st – 2011 December 1st (extension of the project was requested). The project proposes an algorithm for network discovery and selection in a heterogeneous scenario involving next generation wireless networks. The proposed algorithm has been implemented in C++ and its performance has been evaluated by simulations. Currently, new radio access systems (e.g., LTE-Advanced, WiMAX) are getting deployed, while the legacy systems are also maintained defining the telecommunication systems environment as very dense and highly heterogeneous. Such developments pose a new challenge for the traditional network discovery and selection mechanisms. Instead of following a straightforward procedure of detection and attachment, now an optimized network usage is very much dependent on a proper access network discovery and selection procedure. When multiple access networks are available, users may have difficulty in selecting, which network to connect to and how to authenticate with that network. The proposed algorithm includes an extended set of selection parameters that refer to key performance indicators when deciding on admitting, dropping or handover of users from one network to another. The performance has been evaluated for three scenarios and in terms on number of users being served.
The report is structured as follows: Chapter I gives an introduction on the topic. Here, the problem formulation is given, the methodology and contribution of this work. Chapter II describes the various state-of-the-art mechanisms and presents the proposed algorithm in relation to the existing mechanisms. Chapter III describes the Algorithm development and analysis including parameters selection and importance to the system. An analysis on the choice of software tools for the implementation is given in Chapter IV. Chapter V presents the final implementation and performance results. Chapter VI concludes the work.
The literature references are marked with square brackets for the whole report (i.e [5]). Equations are denoted with brackets, taking into account the chapter number and the position of the equation in the chapter, for example (4.1) for the first equation of chapter four. The lists of references are provided after each chapter. Figures and Tables are numerated in the same way, and are always preceded respectively by the term Figure or Table. The list of Figures, acronyms and tables are provided at the end of the report.