Abstract
The handover process is one of the most critical functions in a cellular network and is in charge of maintaining seamless connectivity of user equipments across multiple cells. The handover process is driven by signal measurements from the neighboring base stations (BSs), and it is adversely affected by the time and frequency selectivity of the radio propagation channel. In this paper, we introduce a new model for analyzing handover performance in heterogeneous networks (HetNets) as a function of vehicular user velocity, cell size, and mobility management parameters. In order to investigate the impact of shadowing and fading on handover performance, we extract relevant statistics obtained from a Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)-compliant HetNet simulator, and subsequently, we integrate these statistics into our analytical model to analyze both handover failure and ping-pong probabilities under fluctuating channel conditions. Computer simulations validate the analytical findings, which show that fading can significantly degrade the handover performance in HetNets with vehicular users.