Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

QoS-Based Multi-criteria Handoff Algorithm for Femto-Macro Cellular Networks

  • Published:
Wireless Personal Communications Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The hierarchical coexistence of femtocells and macrocells is a promising approach for heterogeneous networks (HetNets), dealing mainly with indoor coverage issues and providing high data rates in cellular networks. As for any HetNet, mobility management with handoff issues on top, should be studied prior to hindering the successful deployment of these networks. The current study introduces a new handoff algorithm in hierarchical macro/femtocell HetNets based on the combination of quality of service metrics for efficient network selection including: received signal strength, co-channel interference level, and outage probability of each of femtocell and macrocell networks. The proposed algorithm first collects the measured three mentioned metrics based on mobile station (MS) location, then applies a dynamic weighting system to three-metric sets according to the significance of each metric to obtain one utility for each of femtocell and macrocell networks. The obtained utility is then used as a measure for determining handoff necessity. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach, the paper then introduces analytical model of cell assignment probability for an MS moving from the serving macrocell base station to the target femtocell base station in a two-tier cellular network. The analytical and simulation results indicate the efficiency of the proposed handoff algorithm in comparison with the existing algorithms in terms of cell assignment probability, throughput, number of handoffs, and ping-pong rate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

AHP:

Analytical hierarchy process

BS:

Base station

FBS:

Femtocell base station

FFR:

Fractional frequency reuse

FUE:

Femtocell user equipment

HetNet:

Heterogeneous network

LTE:

Long-term evolution

MADM:

Multi-attribute decision making

MBS:

Macrocell base station

MS:

Mobile station

MUE:

Macrocell user equipment

OP:

Outage probability

PDF:

Probability density function

PRWMM:

Probabilistic random walk mobility model

QoS:

Quality of service

RSS:

Received signal strength

SINR:

Signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio

SIR:

Signal-to-interference ratio

References

  1. Andrews, J. G., Claussen, H., Dohler, M., Rangan, S., & Reed, M. C. (2012). Femtocells: Past, present, and future. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 30, 497–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Chandrasekhar, V., Andrews, J., & Gatherer, A. (2008). Femtocell networks: A survey. IEEE Communications Magazine, 46, 59–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. David, L.-P., Alvaro, V., Ákos, L., de la Guillaume, R., & Jie, Z. (2010). Intracell handover for interference and handover mitigation in OFDMA two-tier macrocell–femtocell networks. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2010, 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Moon, J.-M., & Cho, D.-H. (2009). Efficient handoff algorithm for inbound mobility in hierarchical macro/femto cell networks. IEEE Communications Letters, 13, 755–757.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Xu, P., Fang, X., He, R., & Xiang, Z. (2013). An efficient handoff algorithm based on received signal strength and wireless transmission loss in hierarchical cell networks. Telecommunication Systems, 52, 317–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Zhang, H., Wen, X., Wang, B., Zheng, W., & Sun, Y. (2010). A novel handover mechanism between femtocell and macrocell for LTE based networks. In Second international conference on communication software and networks, 2010. ICCSN’10 (pp. 228–231).

  7. Chowdhury, M. Z., Ryu, W., Rhee, E., & Jang, Y. M. (2009). Handover between macrocell and femtocell for UMTS based networks. In 11th International conference on advanced communication technology, 2009. ICACT 2009 (pp. 237–241).

  8. Chen, X., Wang, H., Xiang, X., & Gao, C. (2014). Joint handover decision and channel allocation for LTE-A femtocell networks. In 2014 5th International conference on game theory for networks (GAMENETS) (pp. 1–5).

  9. Hoang, N.-D., Nguyen, N.-H., & Sripimanwat, K. (2014). Cell selection schemes for femtocell-to-femtocell handover deploying mobility prediction and downlink capacity monitoring in cognitive femtocell networks. In TENCON 2014–2014 IEEE Region 10 conference (pp. 1–5).

  10. Roy, A., Shin, J., & Saxena, N. (2012). Multi-objective handover in LTE macro/femto-cell networks. Journal of Communications and Networks, 14, 578–587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Liu, C., Wei, J., Huang, S., & Cao, Y. (2012). A distance-based handover scheme for femtocell and macrocell overlaid networks. In 2012 8th International conference on wireless communications, networking and mobile computing (WiCOM) (pp. 1–4).

  12. Zhang, X., Xiao, Z., Mahato, S. B., Liu, E., Allen, B., & Maple, C. (2014). Dynamic user equipment-based hysteresis-adjusting algorithm in LTE femtocell networks. IET Communications, 8, 3050–3060.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Chen, J., Sheng, C.-Y., & Hsiao, Y.-F. (2013). Handoff decision making in 3-tier heterogeneous cellular networks. In 2013 International conference on computational problem-solving (ICCP) (pp. 187–190).

  14. Guidolin, F., Pappalardo, I., Zanella, A., & Zorzi, M. (2014). Context-aware handover in HetNets. In 2014 European conference on networks and communications (EuCNC) (pp. 1–5).

  15. Jae-Wook, L., & Sang-Jo, Y. (2014). Probabilistic handover decision for femtocell network. In 2014 International conference on information and communication technology convergence (ICTC) (pp. 331–334).

  16. Abdullah, L. M., Baba, M. D., & Ali, S. G. A. (2014). Parameters optimization for handover between femtocell and macrocell in LTE-based network. In 2014 IEEE international conference on control system, computing and engineering (ICCSCE) (pp. 636–640).

  17. Antoro, A. D., Mustika, I. W., & Wibowo, S. B. (2015). Downlink cross-tier interference mitigation for macrocell user in open access femtocell using handover scenario. In 2015 International conference on electrical engineering and informatics (ICEEI) (pp. 656–660).

  18. Jiao, Y., Ma, L., & Xu, Y. (2014). Research on vertical handover in LTE two-tier macrocell/femtocell systems based on fuzzy neural network. In 2014 International conference on computing, communication and networking technologies (ICCCNT) (pp. 1–5).

  19. Saaty, T. L. (1990). How to make a decision: the analytic hierarchy process. European Journal of Operational Research, 48, 9–26.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  20. Kalbkhani, H., Solouk, V., & Shayesteh, M. G. (2015). Resource allocation in integrated femto–macrocell networks based on location awareness. IET Communications, 9, 917–932.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Elayoubi, S.-E., Haddada, O. B., & Fourestie, B. (2008). Performance evaluation of frequency planning schemes in OFDMA-based networks. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 7, 1623–1633.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Itoh, K. I., Watanabe, S., Shih, J. S., & Sato, T. (2002). Performance of handoff algorithm based on distance and RSSI measurements. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 51, 1460–1468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Lee, J. Y., Bae, S. J., Kwon, Y. M., & Chung, M. Y. (2011). Interference analysis for femtocell deployment in OFDMA systems based on fractional frequency reuse. IEEE Communications Letters, 15, 425–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Claussen, H. (2007). Performance of macro-and co-channel femtocells in a hierarchical cell structure. In IEEE 18th international symposium on personal, indoor and mobile radio communications, 2007. PIMRC 2007 (pp. 1–5).

  25. Mehta, N. B., Wu, J., Molisch, A. F., & Zhang, J. (2007). Approximating a sum of random variables with a lognormal. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 6, 2690–2699.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Alouini, M.-S., & Goldsmith, A. J. (1999). Area spectral efficiency of cellular mobile radio systems. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 48, 1047–1066.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Oborkhale, L., Salatian, A., & Onoh, G. (2012). Ranking the quality of service of a wireless cellular network for different periods of a day. International Journal of Energy, Information and Communications, 3, 55–66.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Leu, A. E., & Mark, B. L. (2004). A discrete-time approach to analyze hard handoff performance in cellular networks. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 3, 1721–1733.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Tung, Y. A. (1998). Time complexity and consistency issues in using the AHP for making group decisions. Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, 7, 144–154.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  30. Moon, J. M., & Cho, D. H. (2010). Novel handoff decision algorithm in hierarchical macro/femto-cell networks. In Wireless communications and networking conference (WCNC) (pp. 1–6).

  31. Camp, T., Boleng, J., & Davies, V. (2002). A survey of mobility models for ad hoc network research. Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, 2, 483–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

    Hashem Kalbkhani, Sahar Jafarpour-Alamdari & Mahrokh G. Shayesteh

  2. Department of IT and Computer Engineering, Urmia University of Technology, Urmia, Iran

    Vahid Solouk

  3. Electrical Engineering Department, Wireless Research Lab, ACRI, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Mahrokh G. Shayesteh

Authors
  1. Hashem Kalbkhani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sahar Jafarpour-Alamdari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mahrokh G. Shayesteh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Vahid Solouk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hashem Kalbkhani.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kalbkhani, H., Jafarpour-Alamdari, S., Shayesteh, M.G. et al. QoS-Based Multi-criteria Handoff Algorithm for Femto-Macro Cellular Networks. Wireless Pers Commun 98, 1435–1460 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-017-4925-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-017-4925-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation