Measurements and Modelling of Base Station Power Consumption under Real Traffic Loads

Abstract

Base stations represent the main contributor to the energy consumption of a mobile cellular network. Since traffic load in mobile networks significantly varies during a working or weekend day, it is important to quantify the influence of these variations on the base station power consumption. Therefore, this paper investigates changes in the instantaneous power consumption of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) base stations according to their respective traffic load. The real data in terms of the power consumption and traffic load have been obtained from continuous measurements performed on a fully operated base station site. Measurements show the existence of a direct relationship between base station traffic load and power consumption. According to this relationship, we develop a linear power consumption model for base stations of both technologies. This paper also gives an overview of the most important concepts which are being proposed to make cellular networks more energy-efficient.

Performance Analyses of Renewable and Fuel Power Supply Systems for Different Base Station Sites

“…This fact influences a less visible total discharging current deviation during the summer period. Interested readers can find more information on the phenomena of macro BS power consumption variations caused by oscillations of traffic intensity in [48,49].…”

Solar energy for self-contained power supply

“…In the first case significant storage is not required as well for the grid supplies if solar energy deficiency happens, and intakes the energy surplus [9,10].…”

Influence of Mobile Users’ Density Distribution on the CDMA Base Station Power

“…The need to implement power control in BSs and MSs in the older generation networks is analyzed in many papers [1][2][3][4][5]. In order to carry out power control efficiently, it is necessary to know precise methods for emission power calculation.…”

“…Power control in the networks of mobile users is applied more and more in the base station (BS) and in the mobile user's station (MS) [1][2][3][4][5]. The results of measurement of emission power, without power control and with power control, are presented in [6].…”