Impact of the location area structure on the performance of signaling channels of cellular wireless networks

We consider second generation wireless cellular networks such as IS-54, IS-95 and GSM. These are circuit-switched digital networks which employ dedicated radio channels for the transmission of signaling information. A forward signaling channel is a common signaling channel assigned to carry the multiplexed stream of paging and connection allocation packets from a base station to mobile stations. A reverse signaling channel, which employs a contention-oriented medium access algorithm, is used by mobile stations to send connection request packets (requesting the allocation of a call circuit). A location area includes a specified set of adjacent cells. Mobile units must re-register as they cross the boundary of a location area. The connection set-up time and the paging response delay are critical factors in the design of the signaling system. A location area structure must be optimally selected to ensure that acceptable levels of connection set-up time and paging response delay are achieved. In this paper, combining the operation of forward and reverse signaling channels, we present an analytical method for calculating the distribution functions of connection set-up time and paging response delay. We subsequently investigate the impact of the location area architecture on the performance of signaling channels. The resulting model and formulas provide an important basis for the selection of the location area structure