Quantifying Sleep-Related Energy Savings in Indoor LTE HetNets Radio Access

Abstract

While Sleep techniques show great promises in reducing the energy consumption of mobile networks, the necessity of providing “always-on” services with current cellular architectures significantly hinders the introduction of effective Sleep modes. As the process of network densification goes forward, it is paramount to lower to a minimum the additional energy consumption required by the deployment of more and more network sites. Fortunately, the deployment of Heterogeneous Networks opens new possibilities for the integration of simpler and highly effective Sleep technologies. In this paper, we evaluate and quantify the energy savings attainable by the latest Power Modulation and Sleep modes in a Heterogeneous LTE Network deployed to serve a traffic-intensive urban office area. Power consumption figures are based on those of real cells currently available on the market. Results indicate that the combination of Power Modulation and Sleep techniques is able to cut in half the energy required by the modeled Heterogeneous Network and that Sleep modes, in particular, can be the most beneficial.