Improving User Coverage Through Resource Aware Handoff Management in Heterogeneous Networks

Abstract

In heterogenous network, there are possibilities of horizontal handover between similar type of transmitters as well as vertical handover between different type of transmitters. Also, an user may be served by a single transmitter under the hard handover or may be served by multiple transmitters simultaneously under the soft handover. Considering all these, an user may have several available options to connect with. We have developed a greedy algorithm which allocates every user to their respective most beneficial link in terms of power requirement and traffic cost. We have compared our proposed algorithm with two existing handoff decision algorithms of which one is based on received signal strength indicator measurements and the other is based on selecting the least congested transmitter. Through simulation we have shown that the proposed algorithm outperforms both these algorithms in terms of user coverage and the average data rate provided to the users.