Mobility Prediction and Load Balancing Based Adaptive Handovers for LTE Systems

In cellular networks including Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, how to balance the load is indispensable because traffic load and local user densities vary dynamically. A load balancing problem occurs when available wireless resources are not enough to support the requirements of users. Such a problem may lead to blocked or dropped calls and degrade the quality of service. This paper proposes a mobility technique with adaptive handovers based on load balancing. In the proposed technique, a heavy loaded cell adaptively configures handover hysteresis threshold differently for each neighboring cell according to the load information of that neighboring cell. A simple prediction technique is also used for reducing the number of unnecessary handovers that may arise from load balancing. In the simulation results, the proposed technique shows lower blocking and drop rates for new and handover calls, which reveals its enhancement of the resources utilization and the service quality for LTE systems.