Breathe to Stay Cool: Adjusting Cell Sizes to Reduce Energy Consumption

Reducing the energy consumption of a wireless cellular network is an important and urgent problem. We studied the effect of cell sizes on the energy consumed by the network, assuming base station technologies of today and the future. Making cell sizes too small or too large can significantly increase energy consumption. We show that the optimal cell size from an energy perspective depends on a number of factors, including base station technology, data rates, and traffic demands. Given that traffic varies significantly during a day, dynamically adjusting cell sizes can help reduce energy consumption. We propose a practical, 2-level scheme that adjusts cell sizes between two fixed values, and show an energy saving of up to 40%. The talk also presents some self-organizing techniques to allow this dynamic cell size adjustment.

I will provide a brief introduction to Bell Labs India, and cover some other research projects currently underway. I will also be happy to speak individually or in small groups after the presentation with any students who’d like to learn more about Bell Labs.

Bio: Girija Narlikar is a Distinguished Member of Staff at Bell Labs. She has spent several years at Bell Labs USA and now Bell Labs India, on developing new technologies in the areas of wireless network infrastructure, high-speed packet processing, network security, and mobile applications. She has an MS and PhD from CMU, and a BTech from IIT Bombay, all in Computer Science. She has spent most of her early years in TIFR, and has very fond memories of the place!