Adaptive Handoff Algorithm for Multi-Beam GEO Mobile Satellite System

An adaptive handoff algorithm is proposed for the multi-beam GEO mobile satellite system. Compared with the traditional algorithms applied in the terrestrial cellular systems, the length of the averaging window and the hysteresis margin will be adjusted adaptively according to the velocity of the MS (Mobile Station) and the RSS (Received Signal Strength) measurement of the serving spot beam in the proposed algorithm. Simulation results show that the adaptive algorithm significantly decreases the link degradation rate, prevents the unnecessary handoff, reduces the handoff delay and has favorable adaptability to the high velocity MS. Moreover, the algorithm maintains a fairly low complexity and can flexibly achieve better tradeoff among various handoff performance criteria.