A frame work of handover analysis for randomly deployed heterogeneous networks

Abstract

In 5G HetNets, the massive deployments of small cells result in an excessive number of handovers, including both vertical and horizontal handovers, which induces heavy signalling overhead and significantly impact the network performance. However, handover statistics are difficult to analyse due to the random formations and the coverage limitation of small cells. To tackle such analytical challenges, we propose a stochastic geometric analysis scheme in order to capture the statistics and the impact of mobility on handovers. In a single frame-work, we estimate the average numbers of vertical and horizontal handovers that users undergo inside the network, and derive its closed-form expression by approximation. We observe that the total number of handovers is an increasing function of small cell density, whereas the number of vertical handovers is concave. Our results also show that under a sufficient condition, the expected number of handover is independent of mobility pattern but relies only on the travelling distance for a given wireless network. The authenticity of our analysis are verified via simulations.