An empirical study of handover control parameter on LTE handover algorithms: An evaluation on quality of service and quality of experience.

For the past few years, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has introduced the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) as a critical answer to supporting the users' demand for a faster data connection. Nevertheless, another problem arises as the users move from one location to another; they will face a service interruption. As a result, switching from one base station to another base station is required. This process is known as handover. The LTE handover can be done using two algorithms: the A3RSRP and A2A4RSRQ. Both algorithms are associated with two Handover Control Parameters (HCPs). Earlier, many studies have been conducted to evaluate the handover algorithms' impact on the LTE network of Handover Control Parameters (HCPs). However, the studies solely focused on the Quality of Service (QoS), thus neglecting the Quality of Experience (QoE). Therefore, this paper presents an empirical analysis of the impact of the Handover Control Parameters based on user trajectories in terms of the QoS (Throughput and delay) and QoE (time to complete file download). The study found that the A2A4RSRQ algorithm performed better than the A3RSRP algorithm once the mobile user moved in a range of Angle-1 and Angle-2 directions. On the other side, different Handover Control Parameters should be assigned based on user trajectories to obtain good handover performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]