Sleep to stay alive: Optimizing reliability in energy-efficient backbone networks

We consider the problem of extending device lifetime in backbone networks by exploiting sleep modes. In particular, when the device is put in sleep mode, its lifetime tends to increase. However, the transition between full power and sleep mode tends to decrease the lifetime. We model these two effects in an optimization problem, which considers the management of sleep modes in an operator network. Results, obtained on a realistic case study, show that the average lifetime of the devices in the network can be increased up to 43% compared to an always on solution.