Quality Based Handoff Management in DVB-H Systems

Key issues in the design of soft handoff policies for DVB-H systems are energy saving and constant monitoring of the received signal quality. With this idea in mind, a novel algorithm is proposed in this paper with the aim of reducing the frequency of handoff-related measurements in DVB-H systems, thus enabling manifest power saving in portable terminals than in the case of standard RSSI-based procedure. The objective is accomplished by making handoff algorithm be driven by the quality of the signal received by the user, constantly monitored through techniques of MER (Modulation Error Rate) measurement and estimation. The performing behavior of the proposed mechanism, assessed through a comprehensive evaluation campaign, allows us being confident that this is a direction to consider for future research activities in the field of effective DVB-H handoff protocols design.