Sequential paging of mobile users in GSM cellular networks-a POMDP approach

The task of polling a roaming mobile user in a cellular network to determine its location is known as paging and it requires the use of limited wireless resources. Current cellular mobile communication systems use a broadcast (blanket) paging strategy where all the cells in a location area are polled for the mobile station. This is wasteful in resources due to increased signalling load. We formulate the paging problem as an optimal search problem and derive efficient sequential paging strategies for roaming mobile users. Using the theory of partially observed Markov decision processes (POMDP) we design a smart distributor which sequentially pages roaming mobile users to minimise signalling load.