Energy-Efficient Access-Point Sleep-Mode Techniques for Cell-Free mmWave Massive MIMO Networks With Non-Uniform Spatial Traffic Density

Cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is a novel beyond 5G (B5G) and 6G paradigm that, through the use of a common central processing unit (CPU), coordinates a large number of distributed access points (APs) to coherently serve mobile stations (MSs) on the same time/frequency resource. By exploiting the characteristics of new less-congested millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands, these networks can improve the overall system spectral and energy efficiencies by using low-complexity hybrid precoders/decoders. For this purpose, the system must be correctly dimensioned to provide the required quality of service (QoS) to MSs under different traffic load conditions. However, only heavy traffic load conditions are usually taken into account when analysing these networks and, thus, many APs might be underutilized during low traffic load periods, leading to an inefficient use of resources and waste of energy. Aiming at the implementation of energy-efficient AP switch on/off strategies, several approaches have been proposed in the literature that only consider rather unrealistic uniform spatial traffic distribution in the whole coverage area. Unlike prior works, this paper proposes energy efficient AP sleep-mode techniques for cell-free mmWave massive MIMO networks that are able to capture the inhomogeneous nature of spatial traffic distribution in realistic wireless networks. The proposed framework considers, analyzes and compares different AP switch ON-OFF (ASO) strategies that, based on the use of goodness-of-fit (GoF) tests, are specifically designed to dynamically turn on/off APs to adapt to both the number and the statistical distribution of MSs in the network. Numerical results show that the use of properly designed GoF-based ASO strategies under a non-uniform spatial traffic distribution can serve to considerably improve the achievable energy efficiency.