Mobile user tracking is the function of collecting, updating and maintaining information about the location of a mobile user based on situational awareness information. The tracking and connectivity information maintenance mechanism proposed by us is in the form of registration schemes which are of two types-single layer overlapping and multi-layer overlapping. Both types are static, simple to implement in a scenario such as that of a battlefield and under which overlapping registration areas of various sizes are allowed. The availability of various registration area sizes allow the mobile to pick the one that fits better to its message/mobility pattern. An algorithm is obtained which given an heterogeneous mobile population with a variety of message/mobility patterns and a registration scheme, determines an allocation of mobiles to registration areas such that the resulting aggregate registration and paging rates are below certain target values, whenever the target values are achievable.