Power Efficient Discontinuous Reception in THz and mmWave Wireless Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a heuristic algorithm for power-efficient DRX in THz and mmWave systems, balancing link reliability and power use amid high blockage susceptibility.

Contribution

It proposes a novel heuristic for dynamic cell monitoring in directional links, optimizing power savings while maintaining connectivity in high-frequency systems.

Findings

Reliable connectivity achievable with macro-diversity and link prediction.

Blockage dynamics are faster at 140 GHz but still manageable.

Power consumption estimates show potential for energy savings.

Abstract

Discontinuous reception (DRX), where a user equip-ment (UE) temporarily disables its receiver, is a critical power saving feature in modern cellular systems. DRX is likely tobe particularly aggressively used in the mmWave and THzfrequencies due to the high front end power consumption. A keychallenge of DRX in these frequencies is that individual links are directional and highly susceptible to blockage. MmWave and THz UEs will therefore likely need to monitor multiple cells in multiple directions to ensure continuous reliable connectivity.This work proposes a novel, heuristic algorithm to dynamically select the cells to monitor to attempt to optimally trade-off link reliability and power consumption. The paper provides preliminary estimates of connected mode DRX mode consumption using detailed and realistic statistical models of blockers at both 28 and 140 GHz. It is found that although blockage dynamics are faster at 140 GHz, reliable connectivity at low power can be maintained with sufficient macro-diversity and link prediction