Energy-aware joint transmission Coordinated MultiPoint utilizing dynamic sectorization

Abstract

This paper presents the results for a combined Coordinated MultiPoint (CoMP) and Dynamic Sectorization (DS) approach for energy saving at the Base Station (BS) in LTE-A cellular networks. The DS scheme is based on ecological self-organization where BSs are dynamically reconfigured based on their tempo-spatial traffic diversity. The compatibility of CoMP and DS is explored and improved upon independent DS energy savings by 10%. Sector switching patterns are examined and their relationship between energy savings defined. Furthermore, the bit rate of boundary User Equipment (UE) is explored. Previously when utilizing DS without CoMP, boundary UEs that required high bit rates would limit the effectiveness of the DS scheme due to the large number of Resource Blocks (RB) required for their transmission. However, by utilizing CoMP joint transmission, an underserved boundary UE can attain sustained bit rates by sharing transmission responsibilities between neighboring BSs. This effectively allows RB allocation to be exchanged from a loaded BS to a neighboring unloaded BS. When the exchange is based on minimizing the initial BS's load factor, the DS sector switching can be invoked. This allows for decreased energy consumption but increased or sustained boundary UE bit rate.