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On the Role of Non-Terrestrial Networks for Boosting Terrestrial Network Performance in Dynamic Traffic Scenarios

Henri Alam, Antonio de Domenico, Florian Kaltenberger, David López-Pérez

TL;DR

The paper addresses the challenge of energy efficiency in dense heterogeneous networks by leveraging Non-Terrestrial Networks to complement terrestrial infrastructure. It introduces BLASTER, a Bandwidth splitting, UE association, and Power control framework that uses a BCGA-based alternating optimization to jointly optimize UE association, per-BS power, and cross-tier bandwidth split. Key findings show a 45% average reduction in terrestrial power and up to ~270% throughput gains at peak traffic, with ~249% mean throughput increase relative to 3GPP NTN baselines, plus a 58% improvement in energy efficiency over 3GPP NTN. The work demonstrates that dynamic use of NTNs significantly enhances network flexibility, coverage, and sustainability in dynamic traffic scenarios.

Abstract

Due to an ever-expansive network deployment, numerous questions are being raised regarding the energy consumption of the mobile network. Recently, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) have proven to be a useful, and complementary solution to Terrestrial Networks (TN) to provide ubiquitous coverage. In this paper, we consider an integrated TN-NTN, and study how to maximize its resource usage in a dynamic traffic scenario. We introduce BLASTER, a framework designed to control User Equipment (UE) association, Base Station (BS) transmit power and activation, and bandwidth allocation between the terrestrial and non-terrestrial tiers. Our proposal is able to adapt to fluctuating daily traffic, focusing on reducing power consumption throughout the network during low traffic and distributing the load otherwise. Simulation results show an average daily decrease of total power consumption by 45% compared to a network model following 3GPP recommendation, as well as an average throughput increase of roughly 250%. Our paper underlines the central and dynamic role that the NTN plays in improving key areas of concern for network flexibility.

On the Role of Non-Terrestrial Networks for Boosting Terrestrial Network Performance in Dynamic Traffic Scenarios

TL;DR

The paper addresses the challenge of energy efficiency in dense heterogeneous networks by leveraging Non-Terrestrial Networks to complement terrestrial infrastructure. It introduces BLASTER, a Bandwidth splitting, UE association, and Power control framework that uses a BCGA-based alternating optimization to jointly optimize UE association, per-BS power, and cross-tier bandwidth split. Key findings show a 45% average reduction in terrestrial power and up to ~270% throughput gains at peak traffic, with ~249% mean throughput increase relative to 3GPP NTN baselines, plus a 58% improvement in energy efficiency over 3GPP NTN. The work demonstrates that dynamic use of NTNs significantly enhances network flexibility, coverage, and sustainability in dynamic traffic scenarios.

Abstract

Due to an ever-expansive network deployment, numerous questions are being raised regarding the energy consumption of the mobile network. Recently, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) have proven to be a useful, and complementary solution to Terrestrial Networks (TN) to provide ubiquitous coverage. In this paper, we consider an integrated TN-NTN, and study how to maximize its resource usage in a dynamic traffic scenario. We introduce BLASTER, a framework designed to control User Equipment (UE) association, Base Station (BS) transmit power and activation, and bandwidth allocation between the terrestrial and non-terrestrial tiers. Our proposal is able to adapt to fluctuating daily traffic, focusing on reducing power consumption throughout the network during low traffic and distributing the load otherwise. Simulation results show an average daily decrease of total power consumption by 45% compared to a network model following 3GPP recommendation, as well as an average throughput increase of roughly 250%. Our paper underlines the central and dynamic role that the NTN plays in improving key areas of concern for network flexibility.
Paper Structure (11 sections, 26 equations, 3 figures, 1 table, 1 algorithm)

This paper contains 11 sections, 26 equations, 3 figures, 1 table, 1 algorithm.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. System Model
  3. Problem Formulation
  4. Full Breakdown of BLASTER
  5. Utility optimization under fixed transmit power
  6. Transmit power optimization under fixed association
  7. Simulation results and analysis
  8. Sum Throughput Analysis
  9. Satellite Offloading Analysis
  10. Power Consumption Analysis
  11. Conclusion

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Network Sum Throughput throughout the day for different scenarios.
  • Figure 2: Proportion of UEs associated to the satellite throughout the day.
  • Figure 3: Network Power consumption throughout the day.