Analysis of Handover Performance in LTE Femtocells Network

Handover management is one of the main factors representing the effectiveness of every wireless network technology. Due to the special characteristics of a femtocell, unnecessary handover occurs more frequently. This issue has attracted interest in developing a new handover algorithm in femtocell network. The standard handover algorithm relies on Reference Signal Received Power or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) level. However, this technique causes an unnecessary handover and reduces the user throughput. Mobility prediction is one of a popular technique to be implemented in handover algorithm. This paper analyzes the handover performance in femtocell network by using two types of handover algorithm which are standard A2-A4-RSRQ handover algorithm and proposed prediction handover algorithm. The analysis is performed in terms of the number of handover, the number of unnecessary handover, and the user throughput. The root cause of user throughput degradation is also analyzed. The results show that the prediction handover algorithm provides better performance than the A2-A4-RSRQ handover algorithm in terms of the number of handover and user throughput.