Location-aware handover decision algorithm in multi-cell networks

This paper studies the handover decision problem in multi-cell networks and proposes a handover decision algorithm, which jointly uses location information and the network load to decrease handover numbers and maintain user´s quality of service (QoS). With the help of GPS, it is feasible to obtain location records of each user in recent times. The user´s next movement direction angle can be calculated and used to assist the handover decision. However, because of the limited resources in one cell, the QoS of users in this cell cannot be satisfied if more and more users move to a cell, the load balancing problem should also be considered in order to guarantee QoS requirements of each user. In this paper, two parameters, in terms of angle of handover (AHO) index and load balance index, are jointly taken into account for decreasing handover numbers with the network load balancing. System simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce the numbers of handover and increase the load balance index simultaneously.