Design of a personal communication services network (PCSN) for optimum location area size

Abstract

We have considered a design algorithm for a personal communication services (PCS) network. The algorithm is based on the fluid flow model of mobility analysis and a subgradient heuristic. The design objective is to optimize the location area size subject to the constraint of minimum boundary crossings per unit time because the low frequency of the crossings implies less handovers and less updates in the location database registers. Mathematically, the design task has been formulated as a two-variable non-linear optimization problem which has been solved with the help of Lagrangean relaxation combined with an efficient subgradient heuristic. The experimental results indicate that, for a fixed number of location areas, the optimum location area size does not change significantly with the terminal velocity. Moreover, by selecting the proper density and optimum location area size, the number of crossings can be restricted to the order of tens per hour, which is quite manageable.