Predictive schemes for handoff prioritization in cellular networks based on mobile positioning

In this paper, we propose and evaluate new schemes For channel reservation motivated by the rapidly evolving technology of mobile positioning, The sch emes, called predictive channel reservation (PCR), work by sending reservat ion requests to neighboring cells based on extrapolating the motion of mobi le stations (MS's), A number of design enhancements are incorporated to min imize the effect of false reservations and to improve the throughput of the cellular system. These enhancements include: 1) reservation pooling; 2) qu euing of reservation requests; 3) hybrid approach for integrating guard cha nnels (GC's); and 4) using a threshold distance (TD) to control the timing of reservation requests. The design enhancements have produced a set of hig hly efficient schemes that achieve significant reduction in handoff blockin g rates while only incurring remarkably small increases in the new call blo cking rates. The PCR approach has also been used to solve the MINBLOCK opti mization problem and has given significant improvement over the fractional guard channel (FGC) protocol. Detailed performance results of the different variations of the PCR scheme and comparisons with conventional channel res ervation schemes are presented. An analytical Markov model for the hybrid p redictive version of the scheme is developed and its applicability and nume rical results are discussed.