Intersegment handover performance in integrated terrestrial satellite systems

To achieve a global cellular network, integration among segments offering different coverage (indoor, outdoor and global) must be pursued. Of course, the possibility to hold the call switching among different segments must be guaranteed. Hence, efficient algorithms to perform intersegment handover (ISHO) must be implemented. The paper aims at analysing some ISHO procedures developed in the frame of some European projects and other proposed in the literature, in a scenario with satellite and terrestrial segments interworking to achieve a worldwide cellular coverage. Performance evaluation will be carried out for different system configurations utilizing a dynamic satellite constellation simulator in the time domain. The impact of the distance user-gateway on performance will be addressed. For each procedure, the execution delay and its complementary cumulative distribution have been evaluated for different constellation geometries at different distances from the gateway. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.