On the Area Energy Efficiency of Multiple Transmit Antenna Small Base Stations

We analyze the area energy efficiency (AEE) of spatial multiplexing (SM) and transmit antenna selection (TAS), considering a realistic power consumption model for small base stations (BSs), which includes the power consumed by the backhaul as well as different interference attenuation levels. Our results show an optimum number of BSs for each technique that maximizes the AEE. Moreover, we also show that TAS has a larger AEE than SM when the demand for system capacity is low, while SM becomes more energy efficient when the demanded capacity is larger. Additionally, when the capacity demand and the area to be covered are fixed, the number of BSs needed to be deployed is smaller for SM than for the other techniques. Finally, the system performance in terms of AEE is shown to be strongly dependent on the amount of interference, which in turn depends on the employed interference-mitigation scheme, and on the employed power consumption model

Wearable Communications in 5G: Challenges and Enabling Technologies

As wearable devices become more ingrained in our daily lives, traditional communication networks primarily designed for human being-oriented applications are facing tremendous challenges. The upcoming 5G wireless system aims to support unprecedented high capacity, low latency, and massive connectivity. In this article, we evaluate key challenges in wearable communications. A cloud/edge communication architecture that integrates the cloud radio access network, software defined network, device to device communications, and cloud/edge technologies is presented. Computation offloading enabled by this multi-layer communications architecture can offload computation-excessive and latency-stringent applications to nearby devices through device to device communications or to nearby edge nodes through cellular or other wireless technologies. Critical issues faced by wearable communications such as short battery life, limited computing capability, and stringent latency can be greatly alleviated by this cloud/edge architecture. Together with the presented architecture, current transmission and networking technologies, including non-orthogonal multiple access, mobile edge computing, and energy harvesting, can greatly enhance the performance of wearable communication in terms of spectral efficiency, energy efficiency, latency, and connectivity.Comment: This work has been accepted by IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazin