Efficient Location-Based Hard Handoff Algorithms for Cellular Systems

Mobile world’s rapid growth has spurred development of new protocols and new algorithms to meet changing operation requirements- such as mobile networking, and quality-of-service support. Handoff is one of the most critical procedures in cellular systems. Network operators give emphasis to optimize handover, since it is strongly related to dropped calls, network overload and subsequently users’ criticism. Handoff can be seen as a blind procedure, if it is only based on the comparison of measurements, without the information of location. Since signal propagation and pathloss are complex in nature, we can expect unnecessary and wrong handoff executions. Both UMTS and those of the second generation (GSM) systems will require redefined handoff algorithms of active connections as the smooth mobility support and continuous connection are essential issues for obtaining high performance and increasing user satisfaction. In this paper we present a set of intelligent algorithms using the mobile terminal (MT) location information and area awareness to assist safe handoff decisions. The implemented algorithms are validated by means of cellular network simulators that clearly show the impact of these techniques to major system performance metrics.