Performance Modeling and Analysis of a Handover Channel Exchange Scheme in Mobile Cellular Communication Systems

Properly designed handover procedures in cellular wireless systems are essential for maintaining continuity of a call in progress and for minimizing the probability of forced call termination and signaling and switching load on the network. In this paper, we model a channel exchange scheme that involves exchange of channels between two mobiles that are moving in opposite directions across the handover area of adjacent cells. The channel exchange method is interesting since it yields low values of handover failure probability as compared to the case with no channel exchange. We compare the performance of the cellular system with and without channel exchange through simulation and analysis. For realistic values of new call arrival rate, it is found that the handover failure probability obtained from analysis is in close agreement with that obtained through simulation.