Load-adaptive networking for energy-efficient wireless access

Abstract

Energy-efficient operation is essential for mobile network operators to meet the growing demand for higher data rates while managing rising operating costs. Here, the main challenge is to guarantee the quality of user experience whilst saving energy. This challenge demands adaptive algorithms that enable a load-aware network operation that dynamically configures different network elements according to user needs. To this end, in this paper, we present an adaptive and context-aware power management framework for networks composed of different radio access technologies. We implement and evaluate our framework in an indoor and outdoor testbed. The experimental results confirm that significant energy can be saved in practice by efficiently adapting resources to the actual traffic demand.