On the Statistical Multiplexing Gain of Virtual Base Station Pools

Facing the explosion of mobile data traffic, cloud radio access network (C-RAN) is proposed recently to overcome the efficiency and flexibility problems with the traditional RAN architecture by centralizing baseband processing. However, there lacks a mathematical model to analyze the statistical multiplexing gain from the pooling of virtual base stations (VBSs) so that the expenditure on fronthaul networks can be justified. In this paper, we address this problem by capturing the session-level dynamics of VBS pools with a multi-dimensional Markov model. This model reflects the constraints imposed by both radio resources and computational resources. To evaluate the pooling gain, we derive a product-form solution for the stationary distribution and give a recursive method to calculate the blocking probabilities. For comparison, we also derive the limit of resource utilization ratio as the pool size approaches infinity. Numerical results show that VBS pools can obtain considerable pooling gain readily at medium size, but the convergence to large pool limit is slow because of the quickly diminishing marginal pooling gain. We also find that parameters such as traffic load and desired Quality of Service (QoS) have significant influence on the performance of VBS pools.Comment: Accepted by GlobeCom'1

iTREE: Intelligent Traffic and Resource Elastic Energy scheme for Cloud-RAN

YesBy 2020, next generation (5G) cellular networks are expected to support a 1000 fold traffic increase. To meet such traffic demands, Base Station (BS) densification through small cells are deployed. However, BSs are costly and consume over half of the cellular network energy. Meanwhile, Cloud Radio Access Networks (C-RAN) has been proposed as an energy efficient architecture that leverage cloud computing technology where baseband processing is performed in the cloud. With such an arrangement, more energy gains can be acquired through statistical multiplexing by reducing the number of BBUs used. This paper proposes a green Intelligent Traffic and Resource Elastic Energy (iTREE) scheme for C-RAN. In iTREE, BBUs are reduced by matching the right amount of baseband processing with traffic load. This is a bin packing problem where items (BS aggregate traffic) are to be packed into bins (BBUs) such that the number of bins used are minimized. Idle BBUs can then be switched off to save energy. Simulation results show that iTREE can reduce BBUs by up to 97% during off peak and 66% at peak times with RAN power reductions of up to 27% and 18% respectively compared with conventional deployments

Performance Evaluation in Single or Multi-Cluster C-RAN Supporting Quasi-Random Traffic

In this paper, a cloud radio access network (C-RAN) is considered where the remote radio heads (RRHs) are separated from the baseband units (BBUs). The RRHs in the C-RAN are grouped in different clusters according to their capacity while the BBUs form a centralized pool of computational resource units. Each RRH services a finite number of mobile users, i.e., the call arrival process is the quasi-random process. A new call of a single service-class requires a radio and a computational resource unit in order to be accepted in the C-RAN for a generally distributed service time. If these resource units are unavailable, then the call is blocked and lost. To analyze the multi-cluster C-RAN, we model it as a single-rate loss system, show that a product form solution exists for the steady state probabilities and propose a convolution algorithm for the accurate determination of congestion probabilities. The accuracy of this algorithm is verified via simulation. The proposed model generalizes our recent model where the RRHs in the C-RAN are grouped in a single cluster and each RRH accommodates quasi-random traffic