Energy Saving Technologies and Best Practices for 5G Radio Access Network

This article identifies energy-saving potential of the fifth generation (5G) Radio Access Network, and describes main energy-saving principles and technologies. It explores how to use network energy saving technologies, such as carrier shutdown, channel shutdown, and symbol shutdown in 5G network, that have been inherited from 4G. Some enhanced technologies for 5G like equipment deep sleep and symbol aggregation have also been introduced in this article. However, it is far from enough and an innovative energy-saving solution should be considered. To meet the requirements and development of intelligent and self-adaptive energy-saving solution, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data analysis are introduced to form a more precise energy-saving strategy based on site-specific traffic and site-related conditions, thus improving the efficiency and reducing the manpower. Finally, two commercial application practices of AI-based energy-saving solution are elaborated. One is the practice of AI-based service awareness energy saving for 4G/5G collaborative networks, the energy benefits can be improved up to 20%; The other practice is the adoption of a new architecture Active Antenna Unit (AAU) with beam pattern optimization, its energy benefits can be promoted by 30%. These two practices could help mobile network operators (MNOs) to achieve the most energy-efficient network with good network performance and lower Operating Expense (OPEX).