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Reducing the total cost of ownership in radio access networks by using renewable energy resources

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Abstract

Increasing electricity prices motivates the mobile network operators to find new energy-efficient solutions for radio access networks (RANs). In this study, we focus on a specific type of RAN where the stand-alone solar panels are used as alternative energy sources to the electrical grid energy. First, we describe this hybrid energy based radio access network (HEBRAN) and formulate an optimization problem which aims to reduce the total cost of ownership of this network. Then, we propose a framework that provides a cost-efficient algorithm for choosing the proper size for the solar panels and batteries of a HEBRAN and two novel switch on/off algorithms which regulate the consumption of grid electricity during the operation of the network. In addition, we create a reduced model of the HEBRAN optimization problem to solve it in a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) solver. The results show that our algorithms outperform the MILP solution and classical switch on/off methods. Moreover, our findings show that migrating to a HEBRAN system is feasible and has cost-benefits for mobile network operators.

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Notes

  1. We have to clarify that in this paper, we use the “solar panel size”clause to define the energy generating capacity of this panel.

  2. The unstored energy is the harvested energy by a solar panel but could not be stored in a battery due to fully charged state of this battery.

  3. We should notice that the size of the solar panels and the batteries in Figs. 11 and 12 are determined by using the sizing heuristic algorithm. Also, the results are the average of ten instances in each test configuration.

  4. Hybrid algorithm surpasses the traffic aware algorithm in all instances for any traffic rate. Figures of other traffic rates are omitted due to the lack of space.

  5. We should have noticed that all test cases have been executed on a super computer (Nvidia DGX-1 Station [50]) with a Dual 20-Core Intel Xeon E5-2698 v4 2.2 GHz.

  6. As it was mentioned before, the hybrid algorithm outperforms the other two algorithms in any test case. Therefore we demonstrates only the sizing results that use the hybrid algorithm as an online algorithm.

  7. Our heuristic surpasses the MILP solution in all instances for any traffic rate. Figures of other traffic rates are omitted due to the lack of space.

  8. Therefore we can bypass the effect of solar radiation rate on the results.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Turkish State Planning Organization (DPT) under the TAM Project, No. 2007K120610.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NETLAB, Department of Computer Engineering, Bogazici University, 34342, Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey

    Turgay Pamuklu & Cem Ersoy

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  1. Turgay Pamuklu
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Correspondence to Turgay Pamuklu.

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Pamuklu, T., Ersoy, C. Reducing the total cost of ownership in radio access networks by using renewable energy resources. Wireless Netw 26, 1667–1684 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-018-1862-5

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