Understanding the effects of hotspots in wireless cellular networks

In this work, we study and quantify the effects of hotspots in wireless cellular networks. Hotspots are caused when the bandwidth resources available at some location in the network are not enough to sustain the needs of the users, which are then blocked or dropped. A deeper understanding of hotspots can help in conducting more realistic simulations and enable improved network design. We identify some causes for the formation of hotspots and based on them, categorize hotspots into three different types: a) capacity based, b) delay based, and c) preferential mobility based. We show how these types have different effects on network performance. We also consider the effects of hotspots from various perspectives such as the number of hotspots, the placement of hotspots, etc. We also develop a fluid flow model and an analytical model to study hotspots. The fluid flow model is surprisingly simple yet effective in helping us understand hotspots and their properties. We also describe an analytical model in which we consider a cell as an M/M/B/B queue. We use these models to substantiate some of the observations from the simulations.