Author_Institution :
New Jersey Inst. of Technol., Newark, NJ, USA
Abstract :
Recently, green communications has received much attention. Cellular networks are among the major energy hoggers of communication networks, and their contributions to the global energy consumption increase fast. Therefore, greening cellular networks is crucial to reducing the carbon footprint of information and communications technology. In this article, we overview the multicell cooperation solutions for improving the energy efficiency of cellular networks. First, we introduce traffic-intensity-aware multicell cooperation, which adapts the network layout of cellular networks according to user traffic demands in order to reduce the number of active base stations. Then we discuss energy-aware multicell cooperation, which offloads traffic from on-grid base stations to off-grid base stations powered by renewable energy, thereby reducing the on-grid power consumption. In addition, we investigate improving the energy efficiency of cellular networks by exploiting coordinated multipoint transmissions. Finally, we discuss the characteristics of future cellular networks, and the challenges in achieving energy-efficient multicell cooperation in future cellular networks.
Keywords :
cellular radio; energy conservation; environmental factors; telecommunication traffic; carbon footprint reduction; communication networks; energy efficiency; energy-aware multicell cooperation; global energy consumption; green communications; greening cellular networks; information and communications technology; network layout; traffic-intensity-aware multicell cooperation; user traffic demands; Base stations; Cellular networks; Communication networks; Energy consumption; Energy efficiency; Green design; Green products; Telecommunication traffic;
