Energy harvesting relay-assisted cellular networks based on stochastic geometry approach

As energy consumption reduction has been an urgent problem for the wireless industry, energy-efficient communications is of prime interest for the design of future wireless networks. In this paper, we study the energy efficiency of relay-assisted cellular networks using tools of stochastic geometry where the relay is energy harvesting. We first derive the coverage probability for the macro base station (MBS) to user (UE), the MBS to relay station (RS), and the RS to UE links, and then we model the power consumption at the MBS and RS. Based on the analytical model and expressions, the energy efficiency of downlink relay-assisted cellular networks measured by "nats/s/Hz/W" is then evaluated. Numerical results show that the energy efficiency quasi-concave on the density of MBSs and the transmit power of MBS.