A Game Theoretic Analysis for Power Management and Cost Optimization of Green Base Stations in 5G and Beyond Communication Networks

Abstract

Due to the exponential increase in the number of users, the next-generation cellular networks are resource-constrained in power and bandwidth. Power consumption is one of the critical consideration for the next-generation wireless networks, therefore, management of available resources is essential to achieve power efficiency. With the growing incentive to ‘go green’ and to reduce the carbon footprint, the fifth generation (5G) and beyond wireless networks will derive power from renewable sources to solve the energy efficiency problems. This work focuses on integrated regulation of the traditional, i.e., the grid-based and the renewable, i.e., the solar-based power supplies for the 5G and beyond 5G green base stations (BSs) in a smart city scenario. We propose a pricing model for suppliers to charge the BSs for electricity consumption when the renewable power supply cannot meet their total energy requirements. We propose a game-theoretic analysis for cost optimization by proposing two games, i.e., the power control game and the best supplier game. Each BS acts as a game player and has some actions like power reduction and supplier selection to reduce the total energy costs. We also provide the game transition profiles for the BSs. Furthermore, the Nash Equilibrium’s existence is verified for each of these games and an optimal cost solution is proposed for the green BSs.