A novel optimized vertical handover framework for seamless networking integration in cyber-enabled systems

Seamless integration of wireless networks for secure mobile applications has increased interest in the research area of mobile cyber-enabled systems. Multi-objective handover needs to compensate the different quality of services provided by the wireless technologies. Notably, the recent works select only the performance perspective on the network to suffice user requirements. In mobile cyber-enabled systems, the security policies are essential while providing the ubiquitous connectivity. In this paper, a novel Optimized Vertical Handover (OVH) framework is proposed to optimize and secure the handover process and reduce the handover execution time significantly. This framework integrates IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover (MIH) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) for seamless link establishment and agile network path reconfiguration. In the handover process, the network selection process is divided into two stages, such as pre-filtering and handover network selection. The pre-filtering eliminates the candidates with incompatible security capabilities using coarse and fine-grained methods. The network selection process utilizes the advantages of Manhattan and Chebyshev distance functions to feature the static and dynamic attributes during the handover. Among multiple factors, the OVH applies for compensation according to the network and mobile node states and improves the efficiency of the handover decision. Compared with the original VIKOR, the proposed OVH algorithm reduces the time complexity significantly through the periodic evaluation of dynamic attributes. Finally, the simulation results highlight that the OVH framework significantly reduces the handover delay and execution time.