A power allocation scheme for achieving high energy efficiency in two-tier femtocell networks

Two-tier networks consisting of femtocells and macrocells is a hot research topic since it can provide high spectral efficiency and low power consumption. In this paper, we investigate the energy efficiency problem for green communications in two-tier femtocell networks when macrocells and femtocells share the same frequency spectrum. This paper describes the radio base station (RBS) power consumption model and introduces a novel energy efficiency metrics - telecommunications energy efficiency ratio (TEER). Based on the power consumption model and energy efficiency metrics, we propose a power allocation scheme for achieving high energy efficiency. Validated by simulation results, the proposed scheme can improve the performance of both TEER and average rate compared with equal power allocation scheme.