Spectral and Energy Efficiency Analysis of Dense Small Cell Networks

Mobile network operators are currently faced with exponentially-increasing data traffic demand which necessitates significant investment in network expansion and upgrades. The required capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) have reduced revenues and the associated CO2 emissions continue to raise ecological concerns. In this paper, we investigate the effect of varying user densities on the energy efficiency (EE) performance of the network. Using Poisson point process (PPP) theory, we derive simple analytical approximations that allow important insights to be made on the spectral efficiency (SE) and EE performance of a typical dense small cell network. We also study the impact of the sleep mode power consumption on the network EE especially in dense networks where numerous base stations may be idle simultaneously.