Analysis of Intracellular Handoffs in Multihop Cellular Networks

Multihop relaying in the presence of infrastructure Base Stations is fast becoming a need for creating high capacity cellular networks. In order to meet the demands of the fast expanding subscriber base, these networks aim to achieve higher capacity by employing spectrum reusability through multihop relaying techniques. MCN characteristics is finding its way to the 5 ^th Generation (5G) Cellular networks. However, when nodes are mobile, multihop relaying introduces intracellular handoffs in the network which make the calls vulnerable to dropping. The problem aggravates when the mobility of nodes is high. Thus, to be capable of providing an uninterrupted call service, the knowledge of occurrence of handoffs is crucial. Analytical estimation of intra-cellular handoff rates is challenging and complex. In this paper, we analytically estimated the intra-cellular handoff behavior for a class of multihop cellular networks. We also conducted detailed simulation campaign and compared the results of our analysis with results from simulations. Results reveal interesting relationships among handoffs between various regions of the multihop cellular network.