Optimal Energy Savings in Cellular Access Networks

In this paper we study with simple analytical models the energy-aware management of cellular access networks, trying to characterize the amount of energy that can be saved by reducing the number of active cells during the periods when they are not necessary because traffic is low. When some cells are switched off, radio coverage and service provisioning are taken care of by the cells that remain active, so as to guarantee that service is available over the whole area. We show how to optimize the energy saving, first assuming that any fraction of cells can be turned off, and then accounting for the constraints resulting from the cell layout.