Renewable Energy-Based Energy-Efficient Off-Grid Base Stations for Heterogeneous Network

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 16; no. 1; p. 169
• Main Authors: Islam, Khondoker, Hossain, Md, Ruhul Amin, B., Shafiullah, G., Sohel, Ferdous
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2023
• Subjects: Algorithms; Alternative energy sources; Biomass energy; Carbon footprint; Computer architecture; Cooperation; Electrical loads; Energy consumption; Energy efficiency; Energy resources; Energy storage; heterogeneous network; Internet of Things; Narrowband; optimal power systems; Optimization; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaics; Power consumption; Power management; Radio equipment; renewable energy; Renewable resources; Resource scheduling; Rural areas; Scheduling; Service life assessment; Solar energy; Bangladesh
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en16010169

The heterogeneous network (HetNet) is a specified cellular platform to tackle the rapidly growing anticipated data traffic. From a communications perspective, data loads can be mapped to energy loads that are generally placed on the operator networks. Meanwhile, renewable energy-aided networks offer to curtailed fossil fuel consumption, so to reduce the environmental pollution. This paper proposes a renewable energy based power supply architecture for the off-grid HetNet using a novel energy sharing model. Solar photovoltaics (PV) along with sufficient energy storage devices are used for each macro, micro, pico, or femto base station (BS). Additionally, a biomass generator (BG) is used for macro and micro BSs. The collocated macro and micro BSs are connected through end-to-end resistive lines. A novel-weighted proportional-fair resource-scheduling algorithm with sleep mechanisms is proposed for non-real time (NRT) applications by trading-off the power consumption and communication delays. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm with an extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) and power saving mode (PSM) for narrowband internet of things (IoT) applications extends the battery lifetime for IoT devices. HOMER optimization software is used to perform optimal system architecture, economic, and carbon footprint analyses while the Monte-Carlo simulation tool is used for evaluating the throughput and energy efficiency performances. The proposed algorithms are validated through the practical data of the rural areas of Bangladesh from which it is evident that the proposed power supply architecture is energy-efficient, cost-effective, reliable, and eco-friendly.