Transient performance analysis for location update protocols in cellular networks

Currently, many location update protocols have been proposed for mobile terminal tracking in cellular networks. These protocols, such as the time-based and the distance-based protocols, try to minimize the system overhead for locating a mobile user in the network. The contribution of this paper to develop a novel mathematical model to analyze these protocols and at the same time, make a general model to capture many important movement features. In this paper, we propose to use the transient analysis method to predict the location of a mobile user and the accuracy of the prediction of the location of a user can be enhanced. By applying the transient analysis to evaluate the time-based and the distance-based protocol, it gives us more insights in the performance of these protocols under different movement configurations. Last but not least, our model is general enough such that it provides a general framework to analyze other location update protocols in cellular networks.