Modeling and analysis of channel holding time and handoff rate for packet sessions in all-IP cellular networks

It is essential to model channel holding time (CHT), cell residence time (CRT), and handoff rate for performance analysis and algorithm evaluation in mobile cellular networks. The problem has been extensively studied in the past for circuit-switched (CS) cellular networks. However, little research has been done on packet-switched (PS) cellular networks. Unlike that a call occupies a dedicated channel during its whole lifetime in CS networks, an active session in PS networks occupies and releases channels iteratively due to discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism. In this paper, we investigate the key quantities in PS cellular networks. We present a set of comprehensive new models to characterize the quantities and their relationship in PS networks. The models shed light on the relationship between CHT and CRT and handoff rate. The analytical results enable wide applicability in various scenarios and therefore have important theoretical significance. Moreover, the analytical results provide a quick way to evaluate traffic performance and system design in PS cellular networks without wide deployment, which can save cost and time.