2013/07/05 by Harpreet S. Dhillon, Ying Li, Dhillon, Harpreet S. +7
Computer Science · Engineering · Mathematics · #Advanced MIMO Systems Optimization #Antenna Design and Analysis #Applications (stat.AP) #Energy Harvesting in Wireless Networks #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Information Theory (cs.IT) #Networking and Internet Architecture (cs.NI) #cs.IT #cs.NI #math.IT #stat.AP
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1307.1524
submitted to IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, July 2013
arxiv created 2013/07/05 · openalex publication_date 2013/07/05 · arxiv updated 2013/07/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We develop a new tractable model for K-tier heterogeneous cellular networks (HetNets), where each base station (BS) is powered solely by a self-contained energy harvesting module. The BSs across tiers differ in terms of the energy harvesting rate, energy storage capacity, transmit power and deployment density. Since a BS may not always have enough energy, it may need to be kept OFF and allowed to recharge while nearby users are served by neighboring BSs that are ON. We show that the fraction of time a kth tier BS can be kept ON, termed availability ρk, is a fundamental metric of interest. Using tools from random walk theory, fixed point analysis and stochastic geometry, we characterize the set of K-tuples (ρ1, ρ2, ... ρK), termed the availability region, that is achievable by general uncoordinated operational strategies, where the decision to toggle the current ON/OFF state of a BS is taken independently of the other BSs. If the availability vector corresponding to the optimal system performance, e.g., in terms of rate, lies in this availability region, there is no performance loss due to the presence of unreliable energy sources. As a part of our analysis, we model the temporal dynamics of the energy level at each BS as a birth-death process, derive the energy utilization rate, and use hitting/stopping time analysis to prove that there exists a fundamental limit on ρk that cannot be surpassed by any uncoordinated strategy.