Impact of soft handoff on TCP throughput over CDMA wireless cellular networks

In CDMA cellular networks, the soft handoff technique allows a mobile host to communicate with multiple base stations simultaneously, improving the transmission quality of the wireless channel and avoiding disconnection upon to base station switching. In this paper, we evaluate the influence of soft handoff on TCP (Transport Control Protocol) throughput in CDMA cellular networks through simulation experiments. First, to simulate for changing the values of the soft handoff margin and mobile host density, we model the RLP (Radio Link Protocol) in the wireless channel in order to investigate the effect on TCP throughput for different positions of the mobile host between base stations, and identify the effective ranges for the soft handoff margin. Furthermore, we analyze the influence of avoiding disconnection on TCP throughput when the handoff is performed frequently by a moving mobile host.