Overlapping coverage and channel rearrangement in microcellular communication systems

Overlapping coverage areas of nearby base stations arise naturally in cellular communication systems, especially in small-cell high-capacity microcellular configurations. With overlap, some users may have access to channels at more than one base station. This enhanced access can be used to improve teletraffic performance characteristics. We consider this issue for cellular systems in which hand-off is important. Channel rearrangements are used to benefit users who are in range of only one base station. An analytical model is developed to determine blocking probability, forced termination probability, hand-off activity and carried traffic for systems with overlapping coverage and channel rearrangement. Example performance characteristics are displayed. These quantify the potential improvement provided by these schemes in comparison with the fixed channel assignment