We introduce a new hard handoff algorithm that employs local averaging, a drop timer, and hysteresis. The proposed algorithm achieves better performance than conventional hysteresis-based handoff algorithms that employ exponential averaging, particularly in microcellular environments. We develop an analytical model and an efficient numerical procedure to evaluate accurately the performance of the proposed algorithm. The proposed handoff algorithm and evaluation technique greatly simplify the

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... ctical task of dimensioning the cellular network for optimum performance.