A distributed load balancing algorithm for the hot cell problem in cellular mobile networks

We propose a novel channel management algorithm, called distributed load balancing with selective borrowing (D-LBSB), for cellular mobile networks. As an underlying approach, we start with a fixed channel assignment scheme where each cell is initially allocated a set of local channels, each to be assigned on demand to a user in that cell. The novelty of our D-LBSB scheme lies in handling the hot cell problem because it proposes to migrate unused channels from suitable cold cells to the hot ones through a distributed channel borrowing algorithm. With the help of a Markov model, the probability of a cell being hot and the call blocking probability in a cell are derived. Detailed simulation experiments are carried out in order to evaluate our proposed methodology. Performance comparison reveals that the D-LBSB scheme performs better than a centralized version in an overloaded system, and significantly better than several other existing schemes in terms of call blocking probability, under moderate and heavy loads