Definition of energy efficiency in communication networks and its value for energy-saving management across the network

Definition of energy efficiency in communication networks and its value for energy-saving management across the network

Improving the energy efficiency of communication networks (EE) is an important means to improve the profitability of operators. The energy efficiency indicators are further divided into TEE and IEE) it can better adapt to the organization model of Maintenance Management for telecom operators and tower operators, and realize quantitative management of energy conservation and emission reduction. Low Energy Efficiency top n management is a basic management method defined based on energy efficiency. It helps operators increase profits while achieving energy conservation and emission reduction in communication networks.

I. Improving the energy efficiency of communication networks (EE) is an important means to improve the profitability of operators.

The Energy consumption-to-income ratio (ECR) (Energy Cost per Revenue) is the proportion of Energy consumption costs of enterprises to business income. It intuitively compares the income levels produced by Energy costs of different operators. The average energy consumption revenue of European operators is about 1%, and that of Chinese operators is over 3%. Each time the energy consumption income is reduced by one percentage point, the profit margin can be increased by one percentage point accordingly. In the Internet + era where operator profits decline or even suffer losses, reducing the energy consumption-to-income ratio is one of the measures for operators to increase profits. Because the cost of energy consumption is directly related to energy consumption and energy unit price, there are:

(1)

In Formula 1, PUnit is the energy unit price, ETotal is the total energy consumption, and Revenue is the total Revenue. The total revenue is equal to the product of the Total Traffic (Traffic) and the unit Traffic (Rate.

When data traffic and charges are set, reducing the total energy consumption can reduce the energy consumption-to-income ratio. The ratio of communication network business traffic to Energy consumption is the Energy Efficiency of the communication network (EE, Energy Efficiency ). In the ITU Standard L.1330, the wireless network energy efficiency EE is the ratio of the wireless business volume to the total energy consumption of the entire network. See figure (2). The available traffic of the business volume, you can also use the wireless network coverage area. When the network energy is expressed by the traffic per unit of energy consumption, the dimension is B/J, that is, bit per second.

EE = Traffic/ETotal (2)

Replace formula (2) into formula (1 ).

(3)

According to Formula 3, to reduce the energy consumption-to-income ratio (ECR), improving the energy efficiency of communication networks is the only way to reduce the energy consumption-to-income ratio (ECR) with fixed energy prices and charges.

2. Energy efficiency management needs to further refine the Energy Efficiency Indicators of communication networks (EE = TEE × IEE)

The energy consumption in the energy efficiency indicator of the communication network is the total energy consumption. The total energy consumption includes both the energy consumption of communication equipment and infrastructure. When traffic is high, network energy efficiency will be good even if communication equipment and infrastructure are not energy-efficient. On the contrary, even if the infrastructure uses adequate energy-saving measures, high energy consumption or low business traffic of communication devices can lead to low network efficiency.

Most operators are engaged in communication equipment maintenance and infrastructure maintenance teams, especially in the rapid development of the tower business model, only one energy efficiency indicator cannot meet the needs of some of their respective parts for optimization of planning, construction, and O & M management. It is necessary to further divide the energy efficiency of the communication network into two sub-indicators, that is, the energy efficiency of communication equipment and the energy efficiency of infrastructure, see formula (4 ).

(4)

Where:

(5)

(6)

Etelecom equipment refers to the Energy consumption of communication Equipment. TEE is the Energy Efficiency of communication equipment (Telecom Equipment Efficiency), and IEE is the Energy Efficiency of Infrastructure (Infrastructure Energy Efficiency ). When examining the energy efficiency indicators, if the scope is the whole network, the prefix N can be added; if the site is examined, the prefix S can be added. That is:

SEE = STEE × SIEE (7)

NEE = NTEE × NIEE (8)

SEE is the site energy efficiency, STEE is the energy efficiency of site communication equipment, SIEE is the energy efficiency of site infrastructure, NEE is the energy efficiency of the whole network, and NTEE is the energy efficiency of the whole network communication equipment, NIEE is the energy efficiency of the entire network infrastructure.

After the energy efficiency indicators are decomposed, you can use the indicators to master and compare the energy efficiency of different subnets and sites, and help analyze and solve energy efficiency problems.

Iii. Efficiency of communication equipment (TEE) is an important reference for network regulation and network optimization.

In the era of Mobile Broadband (MBB), with the popularization of Mobile smart terminals, consumers are eager for "Ubiquitous" networks, and data traffic increases exponentially, the rapid expansion of wireless networks and the increase of site density are followed. The annual energy consumption cost of devices increases by more than 20%, offsetting the benefits of some business growth.

In terms of architecture, traditional networks are generally divided into core layer, aggregation layer, and access layer. With the continuous expansion of the network scale and explosive growth of network traffic, the number of core layer and convergence layer devices increases with the increase of the number of access layer devices, making the network more complex and consuming more and more energy. In this case, you need to first use a flat network architecture for network construction, cancel the convergence layer equipment, deploy a large capacity system on the core layer, and directly connect to the access layer equipment, by simplifying the original three-tier network to a two-tier network, the overall network energy efficiency can be 30%.

From the perspective of site scale, reasonable network planning can improve coverage and reduce the number of sites, reducing the consumption of communication networks in proportion. From the perspective of communication devices, the energy consumption of old 2G devices is several times that of new devices. The energy consumption of communication devices of the same function and different models is also significantly different. You can select a reasonable number of sites and appropriate communication devices to minimize the energy consumption of communication devices.

In terms of operation, the business volume in the communication network is usually subject to periodic fluctuations, with high load during busy hours and low load during idle hours. Smart sleep and shutdown can achieve dynamic energy supply with the service, which can effectively improve the energy efficiency of communication equipment. Regular Optimization of network signal-to-noise ratio and rate matching can also effectively reduce service energy consumption. Enable software energy-saving features properly, and the energy-saving effect can reach 10 ~ 35%.

Energy efficiency of communication equipment requires network regulation and network optimization. The Efficiency of communication equipment (TEE) is an important reference and a core technical indicator for measuring the energy efficiency of network equipment.

Iv. Infrastructure energy efficiency (IEE) is the focus of base station power construction and maintenance

Based on the energy-saving Model Analysis of communication network power generation, distribution, transformation, load (I .e. communication equipment), temperature control and maintenance management, infrastructure energy efficiency is the ratio of load energy consumption to the total energy consumption of each link (that is, the total energy consumption. The energy efficiency of infrastructure varies depending on different site types. For example, when all the base station equipment is placed in the data center, the air conditioners are cooled by all devices, in hot summer and cold winter, warm winter and cold summer, air-conditioning energy consumption accounts for about 50% of the total energy consumption of base stations, and infrastructure energy efficiency is less than 50%. For distributed base stations, the energy consumption of the station infrastructure is generally over 60% because the wireless transmitting devices with high power are migrated to the outdoor Tower for installation without cooling or heating. Because the temperature sensitivity of different equipment in the base station is different, adopting the sub-compartment temperature control can further reduce energy consumption. For example, the outdoor integrated Cabinet Construction solution is a typical representative of the sub-compartment temperature control, infrastructure energy efficiency can reach more than 90% in most regions.

With the station type (with data center or master data center, BTS or DBS) and equipment configuration (high-efficiency power supply, high-temperature battery, high-efficiency temperature control, etc, the energy efficiency of base station infrastructure ranges from less than 50% to higher than 90%. The average energy consumption of current network infrastructure is more than 30%, saving space. The global communication network consumes more than $30 billion in energy. By improving infrastructure efficiency, it can save about $10 billion in space each year. Based on the operator's annual income of 2 trillion US dollars, the average energy consumption income ratio can be reduced by 0.5%. Correspondingly, the average profit margin of the operator is increased by 0.5 age points. Compared with the average profit rate of about 7%, the profit margin is increased by more than 7%. Therefore, improving infrastructure energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption costs are the focus of infrastructure maintenance.

5. Energy efficiency indicators are the basis of scientific management measures

Base stations may cause high energy consumption due to a large number of devices and business volumes, and may not necessarily have low energy efficiency. A large number of low-energy sites may not be concerned, but they increase energy costs due to low energy efficiency. It is one-sided to focus only on high-energy sites, and it cannot effectively improve energy efficiency across the network and reduce energy costs. Defines the energy efficiency of communication equipment and infrastructure, making top n management with low energy efficiency possible. Low Energy Efficiency top n management refers to issuing a top n base station (or subnet or regional network) Improvement ticket to the Maintenance Management Team through the network management system on a periodic basis (such as a quarter, the improvement ticket can include two Improvement Objectives:

Most of the top n Low-energy base stations in the last period (as agreed by 80%) will no longer appear in the list of top n Low-energy base stations in the current period through energy efficiency rectification;

The energy efficiency indicators are improved. The energy efficiency indicators and average values of the low-energy top n shortlisted sites must not be lower than those of the previous period. If the minimum target can be set to be the same as that of the previous period, the standard target is improved by 5%, the challenge is to achieve 10% improvement.

After receiving the ticket for improving the top n base stations with low energy efficiency of communication equipment, the Communication Equipment Maintenance Management team analyzes the causes of low energy efficiency of these sites and takes improvement measures, for example, enable the energy-saving function, propose upgrade suggestions for old and high-power communication devices, suggest network optimization, or provide feedback on reference suggestions for improving the utilization rate of devices by optimizing the business model to improve service traffic. The Infrastructure Maintenance Management Team also analyzes the causes of low energy efficiency and takes improvement measures after receiving the top n improvement tickets for the infrastructure with low energy efficiency, such as reasonably increasing the air conditioning temperature settings, taking measures such as sealing the cable holes in the data room, cleaning or replacing the air conditioner, transforming inefficient power sources, overlapping the site light, it is recommended that the indoor base station be relocated outdoors or RRU is removed from the data center tower.

In light of the low energy efficiency of subnets or regions, communication equipment and power maintenance management teams may propose measures such as bulk transformation and solar energy utilization, or increase the proportion of efficient outdoor site procurement, the use of high-temperature battery solutions, etc., with management indicators to drive the achievement of energy-saving goals.

Vi. Conclusion

Improving the energy efficiency of communication networks (EE) is an important means to improve the profitability of operators. Energy efficiency indicators are further divided into communication equipment energy efficiency (TEE) and infrastructure energy efficiency (IEE) it is more suitable for the construction and maintenance organizations of telecom operators and tower operators, and is conducive to scientific and quantitative management. Low Energy Efficiency top n management is a basic management method defined based on energy efficiency. It helps operators increase profits while achieving energy conservation and emission reduction in communication networks.

In order to effectively reduce energy consumption costs, we need to set energy efficiency indicators for communication equipment and infrastructure energy efficiency indicators in terms of management. Refer to the industry's excellent benchmarks and baseline, improvement measures such as low energy efficiency top n management are adopted. Deploying communication networks and site network management systems with energy efficiency management functions is a prerequisite for effective application of energy efficiency indicators. Digital, networked, and intelligent site networks support network-wide energy efficiency management and are the development direction of communication networks and infrastructure.