A Survey on 5G Radio Access Network Energy Efficiency: Massive MIMO, Lean Carrier Design, Sleep Modes, and Machine Learning

Cellular networks have changed the world we are living in, and the fifth generation (5G) of radio technology is expected to further revolutionise our everyday lives by enabling a high degree of automation, through its larger capacity, massive connectivity, and ultra-reliable low-latency communications. In addition, the third generation partnership project (3GPP) new radio (NR) specification also provides tools to significantly decrease the energy consumption and the green house emissions of next generations networks, thus contributing towards information and communication technology (ICT) sustainability targets. In this survey paper, we thoroughly review the state-of-the-art on current energy efficiency research. We first categorize and carefully analyse the different power consumption models and energy efficiency metrics, which have helped to make progress on the understanding of green wireless networks. Then, as a main contribution, we survey in detail —from a theoretical and a practical viewpoint— the main energy efficiency enabling technologies that 3GPP NR provides, together with their main benefits and challenges. Special attention is paid to four key enabling technologies, i.e., massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), lean carrier design, and advanced idle modes, together with the role of artificial intelligence capabilities. We dive into their implementation and operational details, and thoroughly discuss their optimal operation points and theoretical-trade-offs from an energy consumption perspective. This will help the reader to grasp the fundamentals of —and the status on— green wireless networking. Finally, the areas of research where more effort is needed to make future wireless networks greener are also discussed.