Green Networking in Cellular Hetnets: A Unified Radio Resource Management Framework with Base Station ON/OFF Switching

Abstract

In this paper, the problem of energy efficiency in cellular heterogeneous networks (HetNets) is investigated using radio resource and power management combined with the base station (BS) ON/OFF switching. The objective is to minimize the total power consumption of the network while satisfying the quality of service requirements of each connected user. We consider the case of coexisting macrocell BS, small cell BSs, and private femtocell access points (FAPs). Three different network scenarios are investigated, depending on the status of the FAPs, i.e., HetNets without FAPs, HetNets with closed FAPs, and HetNets with semiclosed FAPs. A unified framework is proposed to simultaneously allocate spectrum resources to users in an energy efficient manner and switch OFF redundant small cell BSs. The high complexity dual decomposition technique is employed to achieve optimal solutions for the problem. A low complexity iterative algorithm is also proposed and its performances are compared to those of the optimal technique. The particularly interesting case of semiclosed FAPs, in which the FAPs accept to serve external users, achieves the highest energy efficiency due to increased degrees of freedom. In this paper, a cooperation scheme between FAPs and mobile operator is also investigated. The incentives for FAPs, e.g., renewable energy sharing and roaming prices, enabling cooperation are discussed to be considered as a useful guideline for interoperator agreements.

Department(s)

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Comments

The work was made possible by NPRP grant # 6-001-2-001 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation).

Keywords and Phrases

Base station (BS) ON/OFF switching; femtocell access points (FAPs); green networking; heterogeneous networks (HetNets)

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0018-9545

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2017 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jul 2017

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