Analytic study of Doppler-based handover management in LEO satellite systems

The problem of dynamic handover management in low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems is addressed. Particularly, an analytical study of a newly proposed method for handover management, called dynamic Doppler-based handover prioritization scheme (DDBHP), is presented. DDBHP utilizes Doppler shift monitoring of each communicating user terminal onboard the satellite and geometric characteristics to accurately predict the handover load. As a result, handover requests are more effectively managed, resulting in an improved performance in terms of blocking and forced termination probabilities. Moreover, by supporting guaranteed handovers, DDBHP can be used to provide QoS to users of future broadband satellite networks. An extensive mathematical model that justifies Doppler shift monitoring is presented along with a detailed queueing model used not only to evaluate DDBHP performance but also to provide a methodology for associating DDBHP operational parameters with desired performance. Comparison of analytical and simulation results validate the proposed model.