Finite population model for performance evaluation in cellular communication networks

As cellular communications proliferate, interest in smaller cell size systems has emerged. These systems increase overall system capacity but, due to the large number of cell boundary crossings, more hand-offs occur. In this paper, a general analytical model relates hand-off problems to cell size. The model assumes a finite population of mobiles moving in a finite set of cells. A simple fixed channel allocation criterion with hand-off priority is assumed. Performance characteristics that show blocking, forced termination and unsuccessful probabilities as function of cell size are determined. The analytical results have been used to report the performance of a specific ten cells network. These results have been validated by a suitable simulation program