Energy savings in mobile networks based on adaptation to traffic statistics

Abstract

The traffic load in mobile networks is very unevenly distributed both over time and over cells. Excessive waste of energy occurs in low traffic situations since the radio system is optimized for maximum load. Drastic improvements can be achieved by adapting to the actual traffic demand. The solutions we introduce below rely on automatically switching off unnecessary cells, modifying the radio topology, and reducing the radiated power with methods such as bandwidth shrinking and cell micro-sleep. The challenge is to maintain reliable service coverage and quality of service (QoS) in the related area, while simultaneously consuming the lowest energy. The self-organizing network (SON) supports proper selection of the appropriate energy saving mechanism and automatic collaborative reconfiguration of cell parameters with the neighbor cells.