Unified analytical models for Location Management costs and optimum design of location areas

Within collaborative computing, computer mediated communications are evolving rapidly thanks to the development of new technologies. The facilitation of awareness and discovery of users in the communications networks is a key requirement for the success of these collaborative systems. Besides the need for location awareness, the emergence of heterogeneous wireless environments, where users can freely roam, is making location management (LM) an increasingly important topic for network operators. In this paper, we use a general model for LM signaling costs to obtain analytical expressions for their optimization. These expressions are applicable to different LM algorithms and scenarios, contributing towards the development of a standardized performance evaluation technique and to deliver guidelines for the optimum design of location areas (LAs). We also illustrate how modifications in the different parameters involved in the LM costs affect the optimum number of cells per LA and the value of the optimum LM costs.