Energy Efficient Configuration of Dual RAT Cellular Networks in Homogenous Environment

Energy efficiency is getting more and more emphasis in our everyday life. Wireless cellular networks use a lot of power and lately there have been intentions to create more efficient systems and so reduce the amount of consumed energy. In this paper we investigate the energy efficiency of single and dual RAT (Radio Access Technology) cellular networks. The proposed calculation scheme can be used to maintain the required throughput/capacity of the network with the least energy usage possible or to maximize the capacity with the given available energy. We present certain scenarios in which dual RAT systems perform better than single RAT ones. Guidelines on how to set network parameters are also given to achieve optimal performance.