How does mobile data traffic affect the energy consumption of 5G base stations?

The explosive growth of mobile data traffic has resulted in a significant increase in the energy consumption of 5G base stations (BSs).

What is 5G base station?

1. Introduction 5G base station (BS), as an important electrical load, has been growing rapidly in the number and density to cope with the exponential growth of mobile data traffic . It is predicted that by 2025, there will be about 13.1 million BSs in the world, and the BS energy consumption will reach 200 billion kWh .

What is a minimal 5G BS energy consumption optimization model?

Therefore, the problem can be formulated as a minimal 5G BS energy consumption optimization model, i.e., the energy consumption reduced by reasonably switching off the idle or lightly loaded BSs and reasonably associate UEs with BSs (i.e., the BS switching state and BS-UE association state scheme).

Does 5G cost more energy than 4G?

A report from GSMA about 5G network cost suggests up to 140% more energy consumption than 4G . Energy saving measures in MNOs are needs rather than nice-to-have. What is more important is that sustainability has risen to the top of the agenda for many industries, including telecoms.

Can network energy saving technologies mitigate 5G energy consumption?

This technical report explores how network energy saving technologies that have emerged since the 4G era, such as carrier shutdown, channel shutdown, symbol shutdown etc., can be leveraged to mitigate 5G energy consumption.

Should power consumption models be used in 5G networks?

This restricts the potential use of the power models, as their validity and accuracy remain unclear. Future work includes the further development of the power consumption models to form a unified evaluation framework that enables the quantification and optimization of energy consumption and energy efficiency of 5G networks.