Utility-Optimal Resource Allocation in Energy Harvesting Powered C-RAN

Abstract

This paper studies the sustainable resource allocation for energy harvesting (EH) powered cloud radio access network (C-RAN), where EH powered remote radio units (RRUs) cooperatively transmit wireless energy and information to the energy-constrained mobile devices. To investigate network resource allocation problem, firstly, a general system utility optimization framework is proposed for the design of coordinated beamforming and power splitting algorithm based on Lyapunov optimization theory. The randomness of channel conditions and energy arrivals are considered in the framework. Secondly, an online algorithm is designed to maximize the system utility subject to energy sustainable constraints at the RRUs, signal-to-interference-plus-noise (SINR) and energy harvesting requirements of mobile devices. Specifically, there is no requirements of prior distribution knowledge about channel condition or energy arrival in the proposed online algorithm. Finally, performance analysis demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can achieve close-to-optimal system utility. In addition, extensive simulation results are provided to validate the theoretical analysis and to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm.