Performance analysis of Cellular-WLAN Heterogeneous Network based on Continuous Time Markov Chain

Abstract

This paper proposes an analytical model for performance evaluation of Cellular-WLAN Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) based on Continuous Time Markov Chain (CTMC) for variable-bit-rate (VBR) data services. This model considers system specific overheads and limitations such as limited number of supported modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of each network. Moreover, this model includes the traffic density variation between hot-spot (where the WLAN access point are usually deployed) and non-hot-spot areas. The proposed analytical model is used to evaluate the system performance of two mainstream network association schemes; namely, WLAN-first and Load Balancing, in terms of total system throughput. In addition, the proposed analytical model is thoroughly validated against extensive system level simulation results obtained from the Network Simulator 3 (NS3) platform.