A cloud-assisted handover optimization strategy for mobile nodes in industrial wireless networks

Abstract Connectivity restoration is an important aspect of the survivability strategies of wireless networks. In industrial wireless networks, especially with mobile nodes, connectivity restoration and maintenance directly determines the overall performance of the network. Handover strategies are research hotspots in this field. However, current common handover strategies have many disadvantages, such as frequent handover requests, latency and the lack of consideration of the network performance. These drawbacks are harmful to IoT (Internet of Things) networks. Although studies on wireless networks have proposed many solutions, the proposed schemes are not intended to meet the demands of industrial wireless applications, where real-time and stable performance are required. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel fixed-path mobile node handover strategy (CAFP), which is assisted by cloud services and an ants-colony algorithm. Our approach uses optimization for industrial wireless node handover sequences, execution and handover schemes in different cases. Compared to other traditional handover strategies, our simulation results show that the CAFP has advantages in terms of handover times, latency and the network's average payload. Additionally, this algorithm can decrease the processing capacity of mobile wireless nodes.