Integrated power and handoff control for next generation wireless networks

In this paper, joint downlink power control and handoff design is formulated as optimization problems that are amenable to dynamic programming (DP). Based on the DP solutions which are impractical, two new algorithms suitable for next generation wireless networks are proposed. The first one is an integrated hard handoff/power control scheme that endeavors a tradeoff between three performance criteria: transmitted power, number of handoffs, and call quality. The second is a soft handoff/power control algorithm that also takes into account the additional cost of utilizing soft handoff. The proposed algorithms present a paradigm shift in integrated handoff/power control by capturing the tradeoff between user satisfaction and network overhead, therefore enjoy the advantages of joint resource allocation, and provide significant improvement over existing methods. The achievable gains and the tradeoffs in both algorithms are verified through simulations.