Microcellular handoff using fuzzy techniques

In order to manage the high call density expected in; future cellular systems, microcell must be used. The size of the microcell will cause a dramatic increase in the number of handoffs. In addition, the small size of the microcell will require handoff algorithms to respond faster than those in today's systems. The problems are further exacerbated by the corner effect phenomenon which causes the signal level to drop by 20-30 dB in 10-20 m. Thus, in order to maintain reliable communication in a microcellular system new and better handoff algorithms must be developed. The use of hysteresis and averaging window in classical handoff techniques reduces unnecessary handoffs, but causes delays which may result in the calls being dropped. A fuzzy based handoff algorithm is proposed in this paper as a solution to this problem. The performance of fuzzy based handoff algorithm was also compared to that obtained using the classical handoff algorithms.