CMC

Unit V
PRESENTATION
BY
VIDYA SAGAR
 UNIT – V
HANDOFFS AND DROPPED CALLS
Handoffs initiation, Types of handoff, Delaying handoff, Advantages of handoff,
Power difference handoff, Forced handoff, Mobile assisted and soft handoff.
Intersystem handoff, Introduction to dropped call rates and their evaluation.
 Handoff Strategies
Handoff: a mobile user moves to a different cell while conversation is
in progress, MSC transfers the call to a new BS.
 Identifying new BS
 New voice and control channels to be allocated
Handoff must be performed
 Successfully
 Infrequently
To achieve this, designer must specify optimum signal level at which
handoff initiates

vidya sagar 3
Need of Handoff?
Power Consideration
Traffic Consideration
Channel Quality Consideration
Distance Consideration
Administrative Consideration

vidya sagar 4
Once, a signal level is specified as min usable level for acceptable
voice quality
 A slightly stronger signal level is used as threshold
 Normally taken between -90 dBm and -100 dBm.
This margin ∆ = Pr_handoff – Pr_min, can not be too large or too
small
 If ∆ is too large, unnecessary handoffs, burden on MSC
 If ∆ is too small, insufficient time to complete a handoff
before a call is lost due to weak signal
 ∆ should be chosen carefully to meet conflicting
requirements

vidya sagar
5
Signal Coverage Cells
Handover decision
receive level receive level
BTSold BTSnew

HO_MARGIN
MS MS
BTSold BTSnew

vidya sagar 8(#)

vidya sagar 9(#)
CASE 1: Handoff - Successful

Value of delta is large enough. When the PHandoff is reached, the MSC
initiates the handoff.
vidya sagar 10
CASE:2 Handoff - Unsuccessful

In this case, the MSC was unable to perform the handoff before the
signal level dropped below the minimum usable level, and so the call
was lost.
vidya sagar 11
vidya sagar 12
Handoff – Unsuccessful (cont’d)
Reasons for failed handoff:
∆ too small (i.e. PHANDOFF too low)
high mobile speeds
Excessive delay at MSC
 High traffic level
 Un-availability of channels

vidya sagar 13
Dwell time
The length of needed monitoring largely depends on the speed of
mobile units.
Dwell time: the amount of time over which a call may be
maintained within a cell without handoff.

The statistics of dwell time, vary greatly depending on the type of

radio coverage and user profiles within a cell, are important in the
practical design of handoff algorithms.

vidya sagar 14
Two Decision-Making Parameters of Handoff
 Based on
 signal strength
 carrier-to-interference ratio
Type -1
the signal-strength threshold level for handoff is
−100 dBm – noise-limited systems
−95 dBm – interference-limited systems
Location receiver at each cell site
Received signal strength (RSS)
RSS = C + I
Two situations may occur
 I more
 I Less
Not accurate
Type -2
C/I at the cell boundary for handoff should be at a level, 18 dB

 Carrier to Interference Ratio

 Two situations occur

 C Less
 I more
Relative signal strength with hysteresis and
threshold

vidya sagar 17
vidya sagar 18
Handoff scenarios
Depending on the BS and MSC arrangement of the cellular network the handoff may
occur in the following scenarios, based on the movement of a mobile station (MS).

vidya sagar 19
Classification based on natures of handoff
In this classification, the handoff mechanism is usually categorized as follows:
Hard handoff : A hard handoff is also known as break-before-make handoff.


Soft handoff : The soft handoff is also known as make-before-break handoff.



Soft handoff between BS1 and BS2

vidya sagar 20
Comparison of hard handoff and soft handoff
vidya sagar 21
 Classification based on purposes of handoff
In this classification the handoff can be of three types: intra-cell handoff, inter-cell handoff, and inter-system
handoff.

vidya sagar 22
Handoff schemes based on algorithms of handoff (handoff
protocols)
Three strategies have been proposed to detect the need for handoff:

 MCHO (mobile-controlled handoff)

 NCHO (network-controlled handoff)
 MAHO (mobile-assisted handoff)

vidya sagar 23
Mobile‑Controlled Handoff (MCHO)
The MS continuously monitors the signals of the surrounding BSs
and initiates the handoff process when some handoff criteria are
met.
MCHO is used in DECT and PACS.
Digitally Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications system
Personal Access Communication System

vidya sagar 24(#)

Network‑Controlled Handoff (NCHO)
The surrounding BSs measure the signal from the MS, and the
network initiates the handoff process when some handoff criteria
are met.
 NCHO is used in CT‑2 Plus and AMPS.

vidya sagar 25(#)

Mobile‑Assisted Handoff (MAHO)
The network asks the MS to measure the signal from the
surrounding BSs. The network makes the handoff decision based
on reports from the MS.
MAHO is used in GSM and IS‑95 CDMA.

vidya sagar 26(#)

INITIATION OF HANDOFF
 Signal strength - reverse voice channel
 Threshold level - minimum required voice quality
 Cell site – MTSO
 Unnecessary Handoff
 Failure Handoff
The velocity of vehicle V and the pathloss slope γ , can be
used to determine the value of Δ dynamically
Two circumstances where handoffs are necessary but
cannot be made
When the mobile unit is located at a signal-strength hole within a cell but not at the
boundary

When the mobile unit approaches a cell boundary but no channels in the new cell
are available.
DELAYING A HANDOFF
A Two-Level Handoff Algorithm
Advantage of Delayed Handoffs
Switching processor
Interference
 FORCED HANDOFFS
A forced handoff is defined as a handoff that would
normally occur but is prevented from happening, or a
handoff that should not occur but is forced to happen.
QUEUING OF HANDOFFS
Queuing of handoffs is more effective than two-threshold-level handoffs
1/μ - average calling time in seconds, including new calls and handoff calls in each cell
λ1 - arrival rate (λ1 calls per second) for originating calls
Λ2 - arrival rate (λ2 handoff calls per second) for handoff calls
M1- size of queue for originating calls
M2 -size of queue for handoff calls
N- number of voice channels
a =(λ1 + λ2)/μ
b1 =λ1/μ
b2= λ2/μ
Case – 1
No queuing on either the originating calls or the
handoff calls
The blocking for either an originating call or a handoff
call is
Case-2
 Queuing the originating calls but not the handoff calls
 The blocking probability for originating calls is

 The blocking probability for handoff calls is

Case-3
Queuing the handoff calls but not the originating calls
POWER-DIFFERENCE HANDOFFS
power difference (∆)
 Handover Performance Metrics
Cell blocking probability – probability of a new call being blocked
Call dropping probability – probability that a call is terminated due to
a handover
Call completion probability – probability that an admitted call is not
dropped before it terminates
Probability of unsuccessful handover – probability that a handover is
executed while the reception conditions are inadequate

vidya sagar 40
 Handover Performance Metrics
Handoff blocking probability – probability that a handoff cannot be
successfully completed
Handoff probability – probability that a handoff occurs before call
termination
Rate of handoff – number of handoffs per unit time
Interruption duration – duration of time during a handoff in which
a mobile is not connected to either base station
Handoff delay – distance the mobile moves from the point at which
the handoff should occur to the point at which it does occur

vidya sagar 41
 Practical Handoff Consideration
• Different type of users
– High speed users need frequent handoff during a call.
– Low speed users may never need a handoff during a call.
• Micro cells to provide capacity, the MSC can become burdened if high
speed users are constantly being passed between very small cells.
• Minimize handoff intervention
– handle the simultaneous traffic of high speed and low speed users.
• Large and small cells can be located at a single location (umbrella cell)
– different antenna height
– different power level
• Cell dragging problem: pedestrian users provide a very strong signal to the
base station
– The user may travel deep within a neighboring cell
vidya sagar 42
Dropped Call Rates
• The dropped call is defined as an established call which
leaves the system before it is normally terminated
• The Dropped Call Rate (DCR) parameter represents what
percentage of all established calls is dropped during a
specified time period
• The DCR and voice quality are inversely proportional and
high DCR may indicate coverage, handoff, or channels
accessibility problems
The perception of dropped call rate by the subscribers can be
higher due to:
1. The subscriber unit not functioning properly (needs repair).
2. The user operating the portable unit in a vehicle (misused).
3. The user not knowing how to get the best reception from a
portable unit (needs education).
Relationship Among Capacity, Voice Quality, Dropped
Call Rate
Radio Capacity m is expressed as follows:
 Formula of Dropped Call Rate
General Formula of Dropped Call Rate
The general formula of dropped call rate P in a whole system can
be expressed as:

Where
And
Thank you………………