Energy-Aware Resource Allocation for Multi-Operator Cell-Free Massive MIMO in V-CRAN Architectures

TL;DR

This paper proposes an optimization framework for deploying energy-efficient cell-free massive MIMO in V-CRAN architectures with multiple MNOs, focusing on joint resource allocation and minimizing power consumption.

Contribution

It introduces a holistic integer programming model for joint optimization of AP selection, UE association, and resource allocation in multi-operator cell-free massive MIMO V-CRAN.

Findings

Flexible UE-MNO assignment reduces total power consumption.

Deployment assumptions significantly impact energy efficiency.

The framework provides insights for energy-efficient network design.

Abstract

Cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) implemented in virtualized cloud radio access networks (V-CRAN) has emerged as a promising architecture to enhance spectral efficiency (SE), network flexibility, and energy efficiency (EE) in next-generation wireless systems. In this work, we develop a holistic optimization framework for the efficient deployment of cell-free massive MIMO in V-CRAN with multiple mobile network operators (MNOs). Specifically, we formulate a set of integer programming models to jointly optimize access point (AP) selection, user equipment (UE) association, cloud resource allocation, and MNO assignment while minimizing the maximum total power consumption (TPC) across MNOs. We consider two different scenarios based on whether UEs can be assigned to arbitrary MNOs or not. The numerical results demonstrate the impact of different deployment assumptions on power consumption, highlighting that flexible UE-MNO assignment significantly reduces TPC. The findings provide key insights into optimizing resource management in cell-free massive MIMO V-CRAN, paving the way for energy-efficient wireless network implementations.