Self organising cloud cells: a resource efficient network densification strategy

Network densification is envisioned as the key enabler for 2020 vision that requires cellular systems to grow in capacity by hundreds of times to cope with unprecedented traffic growth trends being witnessed since advent of broadband on the move. However, increased energy consumption and complex mobility management associated with network densifications remain as the two main challenges to be addressed before further network densification can be exploited on a wide scale. In the wake of these challenges, this paper proposes and evaluates a novel dense network deployment strategy for increasing the capacity of future cellular systems without sacrificing energy efficiency and compromising mobility performance. Our deployment architecture consists of smart small cells, called cloud nodes, which provide data coverage to individual users on a demand bases while taking into account the spatial and temporal dynamics of user mobility and traffic. The decision to activate the cloud nodes, such that certain performance objectives at system level are targeted, is carried out by the overlaying macrocell based on a fuzzy-logic framework. We also compare the proposed architecture with conventional macrocell only deployment and pure microcell-based dense deployment in terms of blocking probability, handover probability and energy efficiency and discuss and quantify the trade-offs therein

Energy Efficient Relay-Assisted Cellular Network Model using Base Station Switching

Cellular network planning strategies have tended to focus on peak traffic scenarios rather than energy efficiency. By exploiting the dynamic nature of traffic load profiles, the prospect for greener communications in cellular access networks is evolving. For example, powering down base stations (BS) and applying cell zooming can significantly reduce energy consumption, with the overriding design priority still being to uphold a minimum quality of service (QoS). Switching off cells completely can lead to both coverage holes and performance degradation in terms of increased outage probability, greater transmit power dissipation in the up and downlinks, and complex interference management, even at low traffic loads. In this paper, a cellular network model is presented where certain BS rather than being turned off, are switched to low-powered relay stations (RS) during zero-to-medium traffic periods. Neighbouring BS still retain all the baseband signal processing and transmit signals to corresponding RS via backhaul connections, under the assumption that the RS covers the whole cell. Experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of this new BS-RS Switching technique from both an energy saving and QoS perspective, in the up and downlinks