Soft handoff algorithm parameter optimization in various propagation environments

In order to benefit from the advantages of soft handoff, it is important that the handoff parameters be well set. This paper analyzes the various tradeoffs among the soft handoff performance metrics such as the diversity gain, the network overhead, and the mean number of active set updates. It also shows that the soft handoff performance is a strong function of the propagation environment and provides the set of handoff algorithm parameters that is robust to its variation. A method to reduce the mean number of updates while maintaining its robustness is also presented.