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Improving handoff performance by utilizing ad hoc links in multi-hop cellular systems

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Abstract

Handoff performance is a critical issue for mobile users in wireless cellular networks, such as GSM networks, 3G networks, and next generation networks (NGNs). When ad hoc mode is introduced to cellular networks, multi-hop handoffs become inevitable, which brings in new challenging issues to network designers, such as how to reduce the call dropping rate, how to simplify the multi-hop handoff processes, and how to take more advantage of ad hoc mode for better resource management, and most of these issues have not been well addressed as yet. In this paper, we will address some of the issues and propose a scheme, Ad-hoc-Network–Embedded handoff Assisting Scheme (ANHOA), which utilizes the self-organizing feature of ad hoc networks to facilitate handoffs in cellular networks and provide an auxiliary way for mobile users to handoff across different cells. Moreover, we also propose a scheme enabling each BS to find the feasible minimum reservation for handoff calls based on the knowledge of adjacent cells’ traffic information. Due to the use of multi-hop connections, our scheme can apparently alleviate the reservation requirement and lower the call blocking rate while retaining higher spectrum efficiency. We further provide a framework for information exchange among adjacent cells, which can dynamically balance the load among cells. Through this study, we demonstrate how we can utilize ad hoc mode in cellular systems to significantly improve the handoff performance.

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Ackowledgments

This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation under grant CNS-0721744. The work of Fang was also partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant 61003300 and the China 111 Project under grant B08038.

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Correspondence to Yuguang Fang.

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Appendix

Appendix

According to [16], HOD rate in a cutoff prioritized reservation system can be modeled as a finite-state Markov chain.

In Fig. 6, S i denotes the state of i channels being occupied. λ N and λ HO stand for the arrival rate of new calls and handoff calls, respectively. C is the total number of channels and R is the number of reserved channels. μ is the departure rate for both types of calls. In this model, handoff calls and new calls start to use the shared channels when there are still spare channels in the shared channel pool. When the shared channels are used up, only handoff calls can use the reserved channels.

Fig. 6
figure 6

Markov chain model for handoff reservation system

We can write the state equations as the follows.

$$ P(i)=\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} \frac{\lambda_N+\lambda_{HO}}{i\mu} \cdot P(i-1), \quad {\hbox{for}}\;i=1,2,\ldots, C-R\\ \frac{\lambda_{HO}}{i\mu} \cdot P(i-1), \quad {\hbox{for}}\;i=C-R+1,\ldots,C \end{array}\right. $$

With the normalization condition, we can derive the probability of state 0.

$$ \begin{aligned} P(0)= & \left(\sum_{k=0}^{C-R}\frac{(\lambda_N+\lambda_{HO})^k}{k!\mu^k}\right.\\ & \left. \quad +\sum_{k=C-R+1}^{C}\frac{(\lambda_N+\lambda_{HO})^{C-R} \lambda_{HO}^{k-C+R}}{k!\mu^k}\right)^{-1} \end{aligned} $$

The HOD happen when all the channels are occupied. Therefore, the HOD rate is the probability of state C.

$$ P_{C} = \frac{(\lambda_N+\lambda_{HO})^{C-R}\lambda_{HO}^{R}} {C!\mu^C}\cdot P(0) $$
(11)

The call blocking probability is equal to the summation of probabilities that the states occupy state C − R to state C.

$$ P_{B} = \sum_{k=C-R}^C P(k).$$
(12)

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Huang, R., Zhang, C., Zhao, H. et al. Improving handoff performance by utilizing ad hoc links in multi-hop cellular systems. Wireless Netw 17, 893–906 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-011-0322-2

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