Channel Holding Time Distribution in a Hybrid Satellite and Cellular Communication System

Abstract

This paper evaluated the distribution of channel holding time in a hybrid satellite and cellular communication system. The channel holding time is defined as the time duration between the instant that a channel is assigned to a call and the instant it is released either upon the completion of a call or a upon the completion of a cell (or satellite footprint) boundary crossing by a mobile. Out hybrid system consists of three levels of cells - microcell, macrocell, and satellite footprint. The distribution of channel holding time for each cell level is analyzed by using a distinct system model. The results show that a negative exponential distribution is an appropriate approximation of the channel holding time in our system. This provides a very useful system parameter in multi-layer cellular systems.