Spectral Efficiency Evaluation of Downlink Mobile Multi-Hop Relay Systems Employing Macro Diversity Handover Technique

IEEE 802.16j is an amendment to the IEEE 802.16 broadband wireless access standard to enable the operation of multi-hop relay stations (RS). It aims to enhance the coverage, per user throughput and system capacity of IEEE 802.16e. There are three handover techniques supported within the IEEE 802.16e and IEEE 802.16j - Hard Handover (HHO), Fast Base Station Switching (FBSS) and Macro Diversity Handover (MDHO). This paper presents evaluations and comparisons over the performance of these handover techniques. The effect of the mobile station speed on the handover techniques' performance is also studied.