LTE, LTE-Advanced and WiMAX: Towards IMT-Advanced Networks

Green Wireless Access

By some estimates, cellular networks consume 0.5 % of world-wide energy consumption, with 1 % consumed by the user handsets and 99 % consumed by the network [18]. Meanwhile, multiple-interface phones (Cellular with WiFI, Bluetooth, ANT+, etc.) have been observed to deplete their batteries much faster when all the radios are active all the time. Not surprisingly, then, that several initiatives and research projects have focused on reducing the energy requirements of wireless and mobile networks over the past few years. The projects, in general, vary in their approaches and their objectives. Some, for example, have focused on energy reduction through interference management – reducing the energy requirements of mobile handsets to reliably transmit its data. Network design plays an important role, whereby the location of the fixed base stations and the trajectory of the mobile stations are decided in a manner that also reduces handset energy expenditure. Meanwhile, energy can definitely be added to the considerations of network selection. Advances in dynamic spectrum allocation will also play a major role.

These enhancements, however, focus on handset energy expenditure. To alleviate some of the network expenditure, it is possible (to) utilize renewable energy sources such as solar and wind turbines. More advanced mechanisms, however, can also be employed. For example, it is possible to deploy high density access configurations whereby the all base stations would ...