The GSM, CDMA cellular systems are most trendy 2G and 3G digital cellular telecommunications systems, which is widely used throughout the world. These systems have many advantages such as high security, higher quality of call transmission over the long distances, low transmitted power, and enhanced capacity with more efficient utilization of the frequency spectrum. With these advantages these cellular systems have attracted more subscribers with more attention in the field of mobile communications. One of the most attractive features of cellular system is handoff which is a continuation of an active call when the mobile is moving from one cell to another without disconnecting the call. Usually, continuous service is achieved by efficiently designed handoff algorithms. So, efficient handoff algorithms are necessary for enhancing the capacity and QoS of cellular system. In this paper, the handoff analysis for GSM, CDMA cellular networks are done under various propagation models. Various handoff algorithms of GSM are described and also a novel received signal strength (RSS) based GSM handoff algorithm with adaptive hysteresis is analyzed. CDMA Soft handoff algorithm is analyzed and effective soft handoff parameters are estimated for better performance. The Comparison of handoff algorithms is studied based on results
