Performance analysis on path rerouting algorithms for handoff control in mobile ATM networks

Abstract

This paper studies mobile-generated traffic distributions in mobile ATM networks and evaluates the performance of path rerouting algorithms for handoff control. In mobile ATM networks, user mobility and handoff path rerouting may produce extra traffic load over network links, requiring larger network capacity to support the same QoS. We propose a flow model for mobile ATM networks. The model represents the mobile-generated traffic as a set of stochastic flows over a set of OD (origin-destination) pairs. The user mobility is defined by transfer probabilities of the flows and the handoff path rerouting algorithm is modeled by a transformation between the routing functions for traffic flows. The analysis shows that user mobility may cause temporal variations as well as smoothing effects on the network traffic. Using the flow network model, typical handoff path rerouting algorithms are evaluated through both analytical and experimental approaches. The evaluation methodology can be used for either redesigning the network topology for a given path rerouting algorithm or selecting a path rerouting algorithm for a given network topology under a specific mobile service scenario.