Evaluating the energy efficiency of software defined-based cloud radio access networks

Densifying the communications network and integrating innovative technologies leads to increased power consumption (PC), along with increased signalling and degraded scalability. The latter can be mitigated by using software defined networks, while cloud radio access network (C-RAN) reduces the PC. Since evaluating and improving the PC is an important key success factor for the upcoming fifth generations, a reliable power model (PM) is required. This study proposes a componentised, linear and parameterised PM, and explores the individual components relevant for PC analysis, particularly for software defined C-RAN (SDC-RAN) architecture. The model quantifies the energy efficiency (EE) by capturing the PC of individual components, and measures the amount of PC in the network. Cooling and total PC of C-RAN and SDC-RAN for different parameters such as varying numbers of antennas and different system's bandwidth share has also been considered. The results show that SDC-RAN increases the total PC by about 20% compared with C-RAN. Additionally, the study shows the results of modelling the participating core network's control plane unit's PC along with establishing the accuracy of the components and the parameterised models.