Optimal Cell Clustering and Activation for Energy Saving in Load-Coupled Wireless Networks

Optimizing activation and deactivation of base station transmissions provides an instrument for improving energy efficiency in cellular networks. In this paper, we study the problem of performing cell clustering and setting the activation time of each cluster, with the objective of minimizing the sum energy, subject to a time constraint of serving the users' traffic demand. Our optimization framework accounts for inter-cell interference, and, thus, the users' achievable rates depend on cluster formation. We provide mathematical formulations and analysis, and prove the problem's NP hardness. For problem solution, we first apply an optimization method that successively augments the set of variables under consideration, with the capability of approaching global optimum. Then, we derive a second solution algorithm to deal with the trade-off between optimality and the combinatorial nature of cluster formation. Numerical results demonstrate that our solutions achieve more than 40% energy saving over existing schemes, and that the solutions we obtain are within a few percent of deviation from global optimum.