A new inter-cell selection strategy for reducing ping-pong effect

Carrier Aggregation (CA) is a promising solution to enhance peak throughput in LTE-Advanced or Small Cells Networks (SCN). Thanks to this technique, a terminal becomes able to transmit on one or multiple component carriers. However, many issues in terms of radio resource allocation and mobility should be addressed. In this paper, we aim at improving carrier component allocation during inter-cell handovers. We propose a new algorithm that minimizes the number of inter-cell handovers while meeting QoS user requirement. A novel cost function is introduced to optimize the carrier component selection and reduce the ping-pong effect. Simulation results conducted with two user mobility patterns show that not only the successful handover rate is improved but also radio capacity is increased by more than 15% as compared to a common inter-cell selection scheme.