Energy efficiency of optically backhauled LTE: A case study

Abstract

Abstract-Nowadays, we are witnesses of fast penetration of high data-rate cellular networks such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE). With increasing average access data rates in mobile networks, also the requirements on networks providing backhaul for the wireless infrastructure are increasing. New radio interfaces are already capable of providing hundreds of Mbps over a single radio link between a base station and a user, which means that the future backhaul network should be able to provide a connection to base station sites in the order of Gbps. As optical access networks are able to provide a very high bandwidth practically almost independent on distance as well as high energy efficiency, it seems that a combination of mobile wireless access with optical access networks is a very promising integrated approach for a sustainable and efficient next generation ubiquitous access network. Wireless cellular and optical wired access networks provide synergies and complementary features. The main benefits of using a kind of wireless access are mobility and ubiquity while optical access networks provide high data rates, low power consumption and robustness.In this paper, we investigate various options for deploying LTE in urban areas with a particular emphasis on energy efficiency. For the purpose of evaluation, we apply an access network model to estimate both power consumption and achievable access data rates for various deployment scenarios and show results of a case study for the city of Vienna. The considered deployment scenarios are assessed regarding their potential for improving energy efficiency.

Energy Efficiency In Optical-Wireless Access Network Using Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation

“…Therefore, energy performance appraisal, network architectural improvements, and energy conservation measures can all be applied to those specific access technologies. Just a few authors [20], [21], [22] and [18] have tried to address the task of evaluating the energy usage of integrated optical-wireless networks.…”

Experimental verification of long-term evolution radio transmissions over dual-polarization combined fiber and free-space optics optical infrastructures

“…Unlike the conventional digital baseband transmission schemes supporting only one service at a time, the radio-over-fibre (RoF) transmission network [6] enables the coexistence of multi-service and multi-operators in a shared resources, thereby offering increased link capacity, advanced networking (i.e., dynamic resources and allocations) and features such as wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) [7] without the need for frequency up-down conversion. Transmission of the LTE signals over OFs was presented in [8] and highlighted improvements of the OF backhaul in terms of power and cost effectiveness. A field trial demonstration of high capacity optical super-channel transmission, based on optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing with hybrid dual-polarization (DP) quadrature amplitude modulation/phase-shift-keying (QAM/QPSK) modulations, was reported in [9] providing up to 21.7 Tb/s transmission capacity over long-haul optical link.…”

Analyses of dual polarization WDM and SCM Radio over Fiber and Radio over FSO for C-RAN architecture

“…Optical fiber (OF) plays significant role in connection between BBU pool and RRH due to its high transmission bandwidth and low attenuation [6]. Thus a Radio over Fiber (RoF) technique has emerged as suitable and effective way for radio frequency (RF) signals transmission through the OF to a distributed antenna system (DAS) with required performance.…”