Distributed Inter-BS Cooperation Aided Energy Efficient Load Balancing for Cellular Networks

Abstract

We propose a distributed inter-base station (BS) cooperation assisted load balancing framework for improving energy efficiency of OFDMA-based cellular access networks. Proposed cooperation is formulated following the principle of ecological self-organization. Based on the network traffic, BSs mutually cooperate for distributing traffic among themselves and thus, the number of active BSs is dynamically adjusted for energy savings. For reducing the number of communications among BSs, a three-step measure is taken by using estimated load factor (LF), initializing the algorithm with only the active BSs and differentiating neighboring BSs according to their operating modes for distributing traffic.An exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA)-based technique is proposed for estimating the LF in advance based on the historical data. Various selection schemes for finding the best BSs to distribute traffic are also explored. Furthermore, we present an analytical formulation for modeling the dynamic switching of BSs. A thorough investigation under a wide range of network settings is carried out in the context of an LTE system. Results demonstrate a significant enhancement in network energy efficiency yielding up to 30% higher savings than the compared schemes. Moreover, frequency of correspondence among BSs can be reduced up to 80%. Index TermsEnergy efficiency, inter-BS cooperation, load balancing, radio access network.

Delay‐ and energy‐aware load balancing in ultra‐dense heterogeneous 5G networks

“…Nowadays, mobile operators see network offloading as the key towards relieving congestion in 4G/5G networks. In such a way, several research works have addressed the problem of load balancing in mobile networks during the last years . Nonetheless, deriving a dynamic optimal load balancing proposal that combines delay and energy awareness is challenging.…”

“…Therefore, we assume that it is always operational and consuming energy at full power denoted by P m [W]. According to Hossain et al, this constant energy consumption model in the macrocell is in line with the behavior of typical macrocell base stations.…”

Energy and Throughput Trade-Offs in Cellular Networks Using Base Station Switching

“…However, suitable scheduling and interference modelling for BSS are not discussed. A dynamic BSS scheme (with load balancing) is proposed in [14] with an exponential the BS represented by the yellow rectangle in Fig. 1).…”

Traffic‐aware two‐dimensional dynamic network provisioning for energy‐efficient cellular systems

“…Thus, the networks remain over‐provisioned (in terms of capacity and power) for most of the time, leading to a significant wastage of radio resources, particularly, electrical energy during off‐peak periods. Considering this fact, in our previous work , we proposed distributed inter‐BS cooperation for switching the redundant BSs into sleep mode for saving energy. Proposed distributed cooperation is developed following the principle of ecological self‐organisation, which functions based on the information of the neighbouring BSs.…”

“…We also proposed an alternative traffic‐driven centralised technique for energy savings by adaptively adjusting the number and the beamwidth of sectors of BSs . Unlike the system in , this system does not entirely turned off a BS, making the implementation of the scheme much easier yet effective for saving a significant amount of energy.…”