Towards Energy Efficient RAN: From Industry Standards to Trending Practice

TL;DR

This paper reviews current standardization efforts and innovative strategies for reducing energy consumption in 5G radio access networks, emphasizing design approaches like full stack acceleration, network functions consolidation, and shared infrastructure.

Contribution

It introduces novel network design strategies for energy efficiency in RANs, integrating industry standards with trending practices to achieve significant energy savings and additional benefits.

Findings

Energy optimization techniques reduce RAN energy footprint

Design strategies improve throughput and reduce costs

Shared infrastructure enhances revenue opportunities

Abstract

As 5G deployments continue throughout the world, concerns regarding its energy consumption have gained significant traction. This article focuses on radio access networks (RANs) which account for a major portion of the network energy use. Firstly, we introduce the state-of-the-art 3GPP and O-RAN standardization work on enhancing RAN energy efficiency. Then we highlight three unique ways for enabling energy optimization in telecommunication networks, including full stack acceleration, network functions consolidation, and shared infrastructure between communication and artificial intelligence. These network design strategies not only allow for considerable overall reduction in the energy footprint, but also deliver several added benefits including improved throughput, reduced cost of ownership, and increased revenue opportunities for telcos.