Energy efficient user association in next generation green cellular networks by base station switching

The number of user devices in cellular communication networks (mobile phones, tablets, etc.) showed a large increase in the last ten years. These tools require high data rate which has led to a huge energy need in cellular communication networks. This emerging large energy requirement has increased interest in energy-efficient cellular communication networks. The power consumed by the base station level has a very large portion in the total power consumption of cellular communication networks. Cellular communication networks can be made energy efficient, with the power gained from base station switching. In this study, the user assignments to the base stations has been done by proposed base station switching algorithms. In the first section of the study, we proposed a pricing-based algorithm for user assignments and base station switching. In this algorithm we switched off the base stations, which consume power even though they do not transmit and power saving has been achieved. In the second part of the study, we consider a heterogeneous network. We did user assignments and base station switching while maximizing the proportional fairness between the users. In addition, we introduce a total power consumption constraint for base stations. Moreover we have showed with simulation studies that proposed algorithms have high performance results.