Energy‐efficient data transmissions in heterogeneous ultra‐dense networks using a hybrid metaheuristic optimization

Abstract

SummaryThe heterogeneous ultra‐dense network (UDN) is a complex network environment where the small cells (SCs) are densely populated to acquire data transmission. The UDN is mainly adopted to deal with the explosive growth of mobile data and its consequential energy consumption issues. The UDN consists of mobile users, restricting the SCs from offering seamless services as the movement may disrupt the transmissions. To provide an effective solution, this paper introduces an energy‐efficient framework that enables effective data transmissions irrespective of the users' mobility. The proposed model considers the clustered SC deployment where the four‐tiered architecture is adopted. The architecture includes a macro base station (BS), microcells, picocells, and femtocells. The SCs are responsible for transferring the data received from the mobile users to the macro BS. The proposed model introduces the hybrid algorithm called the firefly oriented multiverse optimization (FF‐MVO) algorithm to identify the most optimal path for data transmission. This algorithm works iteratively to identify the optimal path to reach the macro BS for each transmission from the user. The proposed model is simulated in the network simulator 3 (NS3) platform, and the results are evaluated with the existing models. The outcomes proved that the proposed algorithm is more optimal than the other models in finding the optimal path to result in energy‐efficient transmissions. The proposed method achieved an average energy consumption of 0.24 J, an average energy efficiency of 10.965 bits/s/J and an average network throughput of 33.907 Gbps.