Enhancing LTE Energy Performance with Antenna Muting and Dynamic Psi-Omni Configuration

In this paper we examine the energy and user performance that can be achieved by combining antenna muting and dynamic three-sector to psi- omni site reconfiguration. A detailed algorithm is proposed for how to change on a sub-second timescale between a MIMO capable sector covering mode optimized for capacity, to a single transmit antenna psi-omni covering mode optimized for low energy consumption. Performance evaluations, in accordance with the EARTH energy efficiency evaluation framework (E3F), show that in a nationwide LTE network the largest energy savings with the proposed algorithm are found in rural environments. By applying dynamic antenna muting we achieve 24.9% energy savings compared to the reference case without antenna muting. And by combining dynamic psi-omni coverage together with antenna muting energy savings of 43.8% were achieved. In the evaluations of the latter case we experienced a drop in average user bitrate of 10.7% when both algorithms (antenna muting and dynamic sector-omni reconfiguration) were applied. This performance drop is likely to be somewhat over-estimated.