Characterizing user to access point (AP) association strategies in
heterogeneous cellular networks (HetNets) is critical for their performance
analysis, as it directly influences the load across the network. In this
letter, we introduce and analyze a class of association strategies, which we
term stationary association, and the resulting association cells. For random
HetNets, where APs are distributed according to a stationary point process, the
area of the resulting association cells are shown to be the marks of the
corresponding point process. Addressing the need of quantifying the load
experienced by a typical user, a "Feller-paradox" like relationship is
established between the area of the association cell containing origin and that
of a typical association cell. For the specific case of Poisson point process
and max power/SINR association, the mean association area of each tier is
derived and shown to increase with channel gain variance and decrease in the
path loss exponents of the corresponding tier