A. Bhuvaneswari, Dr. E. George Dharma Prakash Raj
Today, the world is moving very fast because of latest technologies and its innovations. Out of these technologies mobile communication plays an important role in our daily life, since it offers flexibility and mobility. Mobility is the most important feature of a mobile communication system. Success of mobile communication relies on its continuous service provided to the user. Usually, continuous service is achieved by the success of handoff (or handover) from one cell to another. This paper gives an overview of need for handoff, types of handoff, performance metrics, and handoff process, factors that affect handoff process, handoff schemes and algorithms.