Modeling and performance analysis for soft handoff schemes in CDMA cellular systems

This paper investigates the features of a cellular geometry in code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems with soft handoff and distinguishes controlling area of a cell from coverage area of a cell. Some important characteristics of the cellular configuration in soft handoff systems are used to propose a new design of efficient call admission control (CAC) in CDMA systems. Then, the paper constructs a continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) model for CAC in CDMA with a soft handoff queue, obtains closed-form solutions, and thus develops loss formulas as performance indices such as the new blocking probability and the handoff dropping probability. In order to determine handoff traffic arrival rate, a fixed-point strategy is developed. Algorithms are also provided to stably compute loss probabilities and to determine the optimal number of guard channels. A new soft handoff scheme - eliminating pseudo handoff calls (EPHC) - is proposed to improve channel utilization efficiency based on mobility information. As an application of the loss formulas, the proposed modeling techniques are used to evaluate and compare the performance of conventional and proposed EPHC soft handoff schemes. Numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed Markov chain models and the benefits of the new soft handoff scheme. © 2006 IEEE.