Multi-Objective Optimization of Massive MIMO 5G Wireless Networks towards Power Consumption, Uplink and Downlink Exposure

Michel Matalatala,Sergei Shikhantsov,Sotirios Goudos,Margot Deruyck,Luc Martens,Wout Joseph,Emmeric Tanghe,David Plets,Kostas E Psannis

doi:10.3390/app9224974

Michel Matalatala, Sergei Shikhantsov + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/app9224974

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Abstract

The rapid development of the number of wireless broadband devices requires that the induced uplink exposure be addressed during the design of the future wireless networks, in addition to the downlink exposure due to the transmission of the base stations. In this paper, the positions and power levels of massive MIMO-LTE (Multiple Input Multiple Output-Long Term Evolution) base stations are optimized towards low power consumption, low downlink and uplink electromagnetic exposure and maximal user coverage. A suburban area in Ghent, Belgium has been considered. The results show that the higher the number of BS antenna elements, the fewer number of BSs the massive MIMO network requires. This leads to a decrease of the downlink exposure (−12% for the electric field and −32% for the downlink dose) and an increase of the uplink exposure (+70% for the uplink dose), whereas both downlink and uplink exposure increase with the number of simultaneous served users (+174% for the electric field and +22% for the uplink SAR). The optimal massive MIMO network presenting the better trade-off between the power consumption, the total dose and the user coverage has been obtained with 37 64-antenna BSs. Moreover, the level of the downlink electromagnetic exposure (electric field) of the massive MIMO network is 5 times lower than the 4G reference scenario.

Highlights

With the advent of the fifth generation (5G) of mobile wireless communication, the number of mobile subscriptions is expected to increase by 550 million [1]
To evaluate the electric field created by an antenna element A of a massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) 5G base station, we evaluate the DL exposure at a grid as in [32] with constant distances between two different grid points in both x-and-y axes
The most important results have been reported within the aforementioned tables in which the 95th-percentile values have been considered for the number of base stations (BS) deployed in the network and their corresponding power consumption, while for the exposure (DL and UL), the mean between the 50th-percentile and the 95th-percentile has been used, as in Equation (7)

Summary

Introduction

With the advent of the fifth generation (5G) of mobile wireless communication, the number of mobile subscriptions is expected to increase by 550 million [1]. The challenge for the mobile operators to contain this traffic is high as they need to design the 5G networks as optimal as possible in terms of power consumption, electromagnetic (EMF) exposure, and/or cost of deployment. Sci. 2019, 9, 4974 exposure is required to comply with the limitations determined by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) or any other organization such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), given the proliferation of the broadband wireless devices. Massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) is expected to be utilized in the upcoming

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