Modeling the Impact of Power State Transitions on the Lifetime of Cellular Networks

We consider the effect of power state transitions on the lifetime of Base Stations (BSs) in a cellular network. In particular, we take into account the impact of putting in sleep mode the BS, and also the change of the radiated power. When the BS reduces its power consumption, its lifetime tends to increase, as a consequence of the temperature reduction. However, the change in the power state triggers a negative effect which instead tends to reduce the BS lifetime. We therefore propose a model to evaluate the BS lifetime considering the two aforementioned effects, triggered either by the application of a sleep mode state or a change in the radiated power. Our results, obtained over a representative case study, indicate that the BS lifetime may be negatively affected when power state transitions take place. Therefore, we argue that the lifetime should be considered in the process of deciding how and when to change from a power state to another one.