Evaluating the A3RSRP Handover to Determine Optimal Performance in HetNet using Stochastic Petri Net

Handover is necessary for improving user equipment (UE) communication quality among different cells in mobile communication networks. However, the handover decision algorithm (HDA) parameters are often difficult to choose. The use of an inappropriate parameter, such as a handover margin (HOM), causes handover failure (HoF) or frequent handover (FHO), especially in heterogeneous networks (HetNet). Therefore, properly determining a handover parameter is crucial for avoiding the HoF and FHO, as well as improving network performance. In this paper, we propose a stochastic Petri Net (SPN) to model the behavior of a UE in a HetNet. We also evaluate and predict the impact on HoF and FHO by different values of HOM in the steady-state, where the FHO is considered as handover trigger probability (HoT). Finally, the HOM value for optimal handover performance is determined using the absolute difference between the HoF and HoT through numerical experiments. The optimal handover performance was obtained at a HOM value of 6.0 dB using the proposal SPN.