Mobility modeling of rush hour traffic for location area design in cellular networks

User mobility is one of the most important factors affecting the network performance in a cellular network. Increased mobility results in more location updates, handovers and hence an increase in the number of messages exchanged between various entities in the system. This signaling not only puts extra load on the radio interface but also on the infrastructure equipment. Thus, it is required to minimize the rate of occurrence of these mobility related events by optimally dividing the system into areas which have a minimum exchange of traffic. This paper presents a mobility model which can be used to predict the transient behavior of the traffic on the routes connecting these areas in a given network during rush hours when the capability of the network to handle mobility related signaling traffic is put to a severe test. Some algorithms which can use this information to optimally plan the network are also considered.