Abstract:
The GSM cellular system is one of the most popular 2G/2.5G/2.75G digital cellular telecommunications systems, which is widely used throughout the world. One of the most attractive features of GSM cellular system is handoff. It is the process of continuation of an active call when the mobile is moving from one cell to another without call termination. Usually, continuous service is achieved by properly designed handoff algorithm which reduces the switching load of the network. So, efficient handoff algorithms are a cost – effective way of enhancing the capacity and QoS of cellular system. In this paper, the handoff mechanism in GSM cellular systems, various handoff initiation algorithms of GSM are described and a new RSS based handoff algorithm with adaptive hysteresis is proposed for a GSM cellular network.

Keywords: Adaptive Hysteresis, Horizontal Handoff Algorithm