Approximating handoff number and handoff rate in cellular networks with arbitrary call holding time and cell residence time distributions

In cellular networks, quantities such as handoff probability and handoff rate are very important parameters in the networks performance analysis. In previous literature, several techniques were introduced to evaluate these parameters; however, there are some limitations in the introduced techniques. In this paper, we approximate handoff number and handoff rate in cellular networks in which the call holding time and cell residence time follow arbitrary statistical distributions. Specifically, we derive approximate expressions to evaluate the probability mass function of handoff number and handoff rate. The technique used does not require knowledge of the distribution of the cell residence times but only their first two moments, which may be determined easily from empirical data. The analytical results are validated by computer simulation.