Baseband Processing Units Virtualization for Cloud Radio Access Networks

In cloud radio access networks (C-RANs), the baseband processing units (BBUs) from traditional base stations (BSs) are virtualized and moved into a single centralized location. By virtualization, the computing resources of BBUs can be dynamically shared among all cells, enabling a significant improvement in computing resource utilization and power efficiency. In this letter, we propose a BBUs virtualization scheme that minimizes the power consumption with a linear computational complexity order. The scheme is based on a heuristic simulated annealing (HSA) algorithm, which combines a bin packing algorithm with SA. Simulation results show that the HSA effectively decreases system power consumption when compared to standard approaches.