GROVE: A Cost-Efficient Green Radio over Ethernet Architecture for Next Generation Radio Access Network

Abstract

Centralized/Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) comes into prominence to reduce the rising energy consumptions and maintenance difficulties of next-generation networks. However, C-RAN has strict delay requirements, and it needs large fronthaul bandwidth. Function splitting and Radio over Ethernet are two promising approaches to reduce these drawbacks of the C-RAN architecture. Meanwhile, the usage of renewable energy sources in a C-RAN boosts the energy-efficiency potential of this network. In this paper, we propose a novel model, which is called Green Radio OVer Ethernet (GROVE), that merges these three approaches to maximize the benefits of C-RAN while maintaining the economic feasibility of this architecture. We briefly explain this model and formulate an operational expenditure minimization problem by considering the several restrictions due to the network design and the service provisioning. Then we linearize this problem to solve it with a mixed-integer linear programming solver. Our experimental results show that our solution surpasses classical disjoint approaches for any diversity in a city population and the geographical location of this city. Besides, our feasibility study guides the mobile network operators to choose the proper size of solar panels and the batteries in this next-generation network.