Resource Allocation in Cell-Free Massive MIMO Networks With Hybrid Energy Supplies

Abstract

Cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (CF-mMIMO) networks were proposed as a novel architecture for radio access networks, which consists of a large number of access points (APs) over a vast area that simultaneously offer services to user equipment (UEs) in a single frequency band. However, powering a large number of APs along with impossibility or high cost of accessing the electrical grid in some scenarios remains a key challenge in unleashing the full potential of CF-mMIMO networks. One remedy is to resort to various forms of renewable energy sources and come up with AP designs equipped with energy harvesting capabilities. Regarding the unpredictable nature of renewable energy sources, energy-efficient resource allocation techniques need to be developed so that APs remain operational at all times. In this paper, we envision a CF-mMIMO system in which different APs get their power from an electrical grid, a solar energy source, or a hybrid design. We aim at designing an AP-to-UE power allocation scheme with the objective of minimizing overall energy consumption from the electrical grid while satisfying the spectral efficiency (SE) constraints. Moreover, we come up with a green energy budgeting mechanism to prevent energy deficiency when solar energy is scarce. We first propose an idealistic offline formulation of the problem, and transform it into a second-order cone programming (SOCP) problem. Then, we come up with a suite of lightweight model-free myopic heuristic algorithms, and compare their performance against offline benchmark.