Green Communications: Principles, Concepts and Practice

Chapter 3Energy-Efficiency Metrics and Performance Trade-Offs of GREEN Wireless Networks

Marco Di Renzo

Paris-Saclay University, Laboratory of Signals and Systems (UMR-8506),CNRS – CentraleSupelec – University Paris-Sud XI91192 Gif-sur-Yvette (Paris), France [e-mail]

3.1 Introduction

3.1.1 Ubiquitous Mobility and Connectivity: The Societal Change

Since the turn of the century, there has been a tremendous growth in the mobile data market. The number of subscribers and the demand for wireless services has escalated. Indeed, the penetration of mobile services has exceeded that of the power grid. There are 48 million people in the world who have mobile phones, even though they do not have electricity at home [1]. In this context, mobile communications may be allowed to be an indispensable commodity by most, and mobile data, video, as well as television services are also becoming an essential part of everyday life. With the introduction of the Android operating system and the iPhone, the use of ebook readers such as the iPad, and the success of social networking using Facebook, the demand for (cellular) data traffic has grown significantly in recent years. Thus, communication on the move has proven to be transformational, and mobile operators struggle to satisfy the data traffic demands in wireless (cellular) networks, while keeping their costs at minimum to maintain profitability.

3.1.2 Mobile Data Traffic: The Forecast

A further explosion of mobile data ...