Analysis of queue-based handover procedures for mobile communications

Traffic and mobility management envisaged by UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) could be met through cellular coverages based on mixed architecture, including both microcells and macrocells. Due to microcells, the effectiveness of handover procedures becomes dramatically important for system quality and reliability. With this respect, a queue-based algorithm has been assessed and analyzed for the management of handover requests. The procedure has been at the moment simulated in a DCS 1800-like environment and tested in a number of cases, providing encouraging results on the effectiveness of handover queueing in a small-cellular environment. System performance, in fact, can be largely improved by the decrease in handover failure rate, which results in both rural and dense urban environment, if the above queueing strategy is adopted. Simulations will be extended, in the future, to both microcellular and mixed coverages.