An assessment of different user–BS association policies for green HetNets in off‐grid environments

Abstract

Previous research has shown the relationship between the number of users connected to a cellular network base station (BS) and its energy consumption. For this reason, the study of optimal mechanisms that balance the load of users over the available BSs is a key element in the field of energy efficiency in cellular networks. The target of this paper is to propose and assess different user–BS association mechanisms to reduce grid consumption in heterogeneous cellular networks powered by hybrid energy sources (grid and renewable energy). These schemes are compared with the traditional best‐signal‐level mechanism and evaluated via simulation by using key performance indicators related to grid consumption, number of users served, and average transmission rate per user. Our results show that the new proposed user allocation policies improve grid electricity consumption while reducing unserved users compared with the traditional association scheme.

A Coalitional Model Predictive Control for the Energy Efficiency of Next-Generation Cellular Networks

“…This section details the proposed coalitional MPC algorithm and other assessed methods: (i) centralized and decentralized MPC, which provide, respectively, an upper and lower bound of the performance; (ii) an energy-aware heuristic method; and (iii) the best-signal-level technique, which is a well-known user BS-association strategy. Unlike other studies such as [9,32,33], we here propose a more realistic internal model for the controller that considers that the transfer of users between base stations is limited to neighboring base stations.…”

“…Hence, the main contribution of the article is to assess how Long-Term Evolution (LTE) systems powered by hybrid energy sources can be more sustainable in a scalable manner by using coalitional MPC. Likewise, unlike other studies such as [9,32,33], we propose a more realistic internal model for the controller that considers that the transfer of users between base stations is limited to neighboring base stations.…”

A Coalitional Model Predictive Control Approach for Heterogeneous Cellular Networks

“…Traditional schemes based on signal level typically provide users with better average transmission rates than those based on another criterion for user-BS association [22]. Therefore, the evaluation of the impact of the proposed mechanism on the user experience is significant.…”

Energy-Aware Resource Management in Heterogeneous Cellular Networks With Hybrid Energy Sources

“…In this case, a flow is a real value representing an aggregation of users, in other words, the traffic load density of a BS in a time slot. This provides a solution with the optimal flows exchanged between BSs [44]. Fig.…”