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Optimizing Integrated Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial Networks Performance with Traffic-Aware Resource Management

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

TL;DR

This work tackles the energy-efficiency challenge of increasingly dense mobile networks by integrating terrestrial and non-terrestrial (LEO) infrastructure and optimizing radio resources. The authors propose BLASTER, a framework that jointly optimizes bandwidth split, UE association, base-station activation, and transmit power, using an L1-L2 regularization to encourage BS shutdown and a BCGA-based optimization with a low-complexity heuristic. Key findings show BLASTER can reduce terrestrial network energy by up to $67\%$ in low-traffic and improve average sum-log-throughput by about $6\%$ during high traffic, outperforming 3GPP TN/NTN benchmarks, while satellites offload traffic more in low-traffic periods and act as load-balancing backstops in high-traffic periods. The practical impact is a demonstrably energy-efficient TN-NTN deployment with adaptive resource sharing, and the work points to future ML-based distributed implementations and multi-beam satellite architectures. All mathematical expressions are presented with proper delimiters to support reproducibility and clarity.

Abstract

To address an ever-increasing demand for ubiquitous high-speed connectivity, mobile network deployments are becoming increasingly dense. However, this densification has also led to a surge in overall energy consumption, making the process increasingly challenging. In recent years, non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) have been mainly endorsed as a potential solution to enhance coverage by complementing the coverage of the terrestrial network (TN) in areas with limited network deployment. However, their ability to reduce TN energy consumption, though often overlooked, remains a significant advantage. To this end, this paper introduces a novel radio resource management algorithm, BLASTER (Bandwidth SpLit, User ASsociation, and PowEr ContRol), which integrates bandwidth allocation, user equipment (UE) association, power control, and base station activation within an integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial network (TN-NTN). This algorithm aims to optimize network resource allocation fairness and energy consumption dynamically, demonstrating new opportunities in deploying satellite networks in legacy cellular systems. Our study offers a comprehensive analysis of the integrated network model, emphasizing the effective balance between energy saving and Quality of Service (QoS), and proposing practical solutions to meet the fluctuating traffic demands of cellular networks.

Optimizing Integrated Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial Networks Performance with Traffic-Aware Resource Management

TL;DR

This work tackles the energy-efficiency challenge of increasingly dense mobile networks by integrating terrestrial and non-terrestrial (LEO) infrastructure and optimizing radio resources. The authors propose BLASTER, a framework that jointly optimizes bandwidth split, UE association, base-station activation, and transmit power, using an L1-L2 regularization to encourage BS shutdown and a BCGA-based optimization with a low-complexity heuristic. Key findings show BLASTER can reduce terrestrial network energy by up to in low-traffic and improve average sum-log-throughput by about during high traffic, outperforming 3GPP TN/NTN benchmarks, while satellites offload traffic more in low-traffic periods and act as load-balancing backstops in high-traffic periods. The practical impact is a demonstrably energy-efficient TN-NTN deployment with adaptive resource sharing, and the work points to future ML-based distributed implementations and multi-beam satellite architectures. All mathematical expressions are presented with proper delimiters to support reproducibility and clarity.

Abstract

To address an ever-increasing demand for ubiquitous high-speed connectivity, mobile network deployments are becoming increasingly dense. However, this densification has also led to a surge in overall energy consumption, making the process increasingly challenging. In recent years, non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) have been mainly endorsed as a potential solution to enhance coverage by complementing the coverage of the terrestrial network (TN) in areas with limited network deployment. However, their ability to reduce TN energy consumption, though often overlooked, remains a significant advantage. To this end, this paper introduces a novel radio resource management algorithm, BLASTER (Bandwidth SpLit, User ASsociation, and PowEr ContRol), which integrates bandwidth allocation, user equipment (UE) association, power control, and base station activation within an integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial network (TN-NTN). This algorithm aims to optimize network resource allocation fairness and energy consumption dynamically, demonstrating new opportunities in deploying satellite networks in legacy cellular systems. Our study offers a comprehensive analysis of the integrated network model, emphasizing the effective balance between energy saving and Quality of Service (QoS), and proposing practical solutions to meet the fluctuating traffic demands of cellular networks.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 28 sections, 2 theorems, 36 equations, 12 figures, 2 tables, 2 algorithms.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related works
  3. Contributions
  4. System Model
  5. Channel Model
  6. Terrestrial link channel model
  7. Satellite link channel model
  8. SINR
  9. Energy Consumption Model
  10. Problem Formulation
  11. Designed Solution
  12. BLASTER
  13. Utility optimization under fixed transmit power
  14. Transmit power optimization under fixed association
  15. Heuristic development
  16. ...and 13 more sections

Key Result

Proposition 1

We can rewrite $\mathcal{D}\left(\mu\right)$ as:

Figures (12)

  • Figure 1: Representation of area of study.
  • Figure 2: Representation of the satellite positions considered for the area of study (in red).
  • Figure 3: Sum Log Throughput distribution achieved by BLASTER in high traffic for various $\lambda_{\rm max}$.
  • Figure 4: Sum Log Throughput distribution achieved by BLASTER in low traffic for various $\lambda_{\rm max}$.
  • Figure 5: Daily profile of the terrestrial network energy consumption achieved by BLASTER for various $\lambda_{\rm max}$.
  • ...and 7 more figures

Theorems & Definitions (4)

  • Proposition 1
  • proof
  • Proposition 2
  • proof