2024/05/22 by Henri Alam, Alam, Henri, Antonio De Domenico +5 · 1 citation
Computer Science · Engineering · #Advanced MIMO Systems Optimization #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Network Traffic and Congestion Control #Networking and Internet Architecture (cs.NI) #Opportunistic and Delay-Tolerant Networks
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2405.14053
openalex publication_date 2024/05/22 · openalex created_date 2024/05/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Due to an ever-expansive network deployment, numerous questions are being raised regarding the energy consumption of the mobile network. Recently, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) have proven to be a useful, and complementary solution to Terrestrial Networks (TN) to provide ubiquitous coverage. In this paper, we consider an integrated TN-NTN, and study how to maximize its resource usage in a dynamic traffic scenario. We introduce BLASTER, a framework designed to control User Equipment (UE) association, Base Station (BS) transmit power and activation, and bandwidth allocation between the terrestrial and non-terrestrial tiers. Our proposal is able to adapt to fluctuating daily traffic, focusing on reducing power consumption throughout the network during low traffic and distributing the load otherwise. Simulation results show an average daily decrease of total power consumption by 45% compared to a network model following 3GPP recommendation, as well as an average throughput increase of roughly 250%. Our paper underlines the central and dynamic role that the NTN plays in improving key areas of concern for network flexibility.