Adaptive and Resilient Solutions for Energy Savings of Mobile Access Networks

Abstract

Continuous development and evolution of mobile communications toward end user expectations has led to heterogeneous mobile networks in the most general sense of the word. The mixture of core network infrastructures and radio access technologies, due to the arrival of new technologies while older ones are still used and not fully exploited, brings mobile operators to a complex business environment. Such a situation threatens future profit margins since the cost of running mobile networks rises with greater pace than total profit. A significant share in the total costs of running a mobile network belongs to energy consumption. Decreasing energy costs by designing hardware with low-energy consumption characteristics and site collocation is already under way, but additional sparing could be achieved through soft solutions or adaptive networks. To reduce operational costs, the crucial role will be played by the self-organizing network paradigm, featured by network management systems and operations/business support systems. In this paper, the authors provide an overview of adaptive and resilient concepts appropriate for improving the energy efficiency of mobile access networks. More precisely, they present the most promising self-organizing network solutions in the radio access and backhaul part of mobile networks, the implementation of which can bring a synergetic effect in terms of significant energy savings.