An Overview Of Context-Aware Vertical Handover Schemes In Heterogeneous Networks

As wireless access technologies grow rapidly, the recent studies have focused on granting mobile usersthe ability of roaming across different wireless networks in a seamless manner thus offering seamlessmobility. The different characteristics of each wireless technology with regards to QoS brought manychallenges for provisioning the continuous services (audio/video streaming) in a seamless way. In thispaper, we intend to review the existing context-aware methods which offered solutions for servicecontinuity. We looked at the types of context information used in each solution. Through this study, it isclear that context awareness plays a significant role in handover process in order to satisfy usersdemanding seamless services. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to compare the existing methodsgrouped as general, IMS based, and WLAN/WiMAX solutions in terms of several criteria, such asinterworking architecture, service continuity, and QoS provisioning.