Energy Efficiency of 5G Open RAN low-SWaP Edge and Cloud-Native Platforms for Smart Grids

This paper investigates the energy efficiency of 5G Open Radio Access Network (RAN) architectures for smart grid applications. A comparative analysis is performed between a conventional x86-based cloud platform and a low-Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP), small-form-factor ARM-based platform. The study evaluates power consumption and energy efficiency across varying traffic loads, with a particular focus on uplink-dominant scenarios typical of smart grid communications. Results show that the low-SWaP ARM platform achieves significantly lower power consumption and higher energy efficiency per bit than the x86 alternative. The paper also discusses the trade-offs between energy efficiency and scalability when adopting SWaP-constrained platforms.