Energy efficiency and base station selection in massive MIMO and small cell hybrid networks

The usage of hybrid network consisting of massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) co-existing with small cell networks (SCNs), are considered to be a key technique for the future wireless communication systems. However, the co-existing SCNs not only require on-site hardware installation, but also increase the static power of the system thereby reducing the energy efficiency (EE). To circumvent the problem, we account for base station (BS) selection to strategically turn on or off the SCN such that EE of the system is maximized, constrained on total transmit power and end-user rate requirement. Simulation results demonstrate the gain in EE by strategic BS selection over different network topologies, implying effectiveness of employing BS selection strategy in hybrid networks.