Energy optimization of a cellular network with minimum bit-rate guarantee

Energy optimization in cellular networks has been studied using different perspectives in the literature: sleep patterns, network interference, association of users and base stations, resource allocation of resources (bandwidth and power), etc. All these means have been discussed individually in previous works. However, none of the existing works has succeeded in proposing an exact mathematical model that takes into account several of these parameters simultaneously. In this article, we propose a first exact modelling of several network parameters and their interaction in order to minimize the energy consumption in a LTE cellular network. The optimization model guarantees to satisfy all the users with a minimum quality of service (data rate). Its exact solution allows energy savings of up to 50% in a moderately loaded network, which leads to energy savings up to twice that of the heuristic proposed by Piunti et al., (2015). Various numerical results are presented on hexagonal and randomly generated cellular networks.