Energy Efficiency - Spectral Efficiency Trade-Off: A Multiobjective Optimization Approach
Energy Efficiency - Spectral Efficiency Trade-Off: A Multiobjective Optimization Approach
Energy Efficiency - Spectral Efficiency Trade-Off: A Multiobjective Optimization Approach
DOI 10.1109/TVT.2015.2425934
Abstract—In this paper, we consider the resource allocation [3]. Although EE is the major design metric for environment-
problem for energy efficiency (EE) - spectral efficiency (SE) friendly future wireless communication systems, it conflicts
trade-off. Unlike traditional research that uses the EE as an with other traditional metrics such as spectral efficiency (SE)
objective function and imposes constraints either on the SE
or achievable rate, we propound a multiobjective optimization in bit/sec/Hz [4]. The trade-off between EE and SE states
approach that can flexibly switch between the EE and SE that the available system’s resources cannot be optimized to
functions or change the priority level of each function using improve both EE and SE simultaneously.
a trade-off parameter. Our dynamic approach is more tractable Considering the trade-off between the EE and SE in al-
than the conventional approaches and more convenient to realistic locating the available resources is a timely and important
communication applications and scenarios. We prove that the
multiobjective optimization of the EE and SE is equivalent problem, attention has recently started to be paid for both
to a simple problem that maximizes the achievable rate/SE single carrier [5], [6] and multicarrier transmission systems
and minimizes the total power consumption. Then we apply [7]. The previously mentioned resource allocation problems
the generalized framework of the resource allocation for the that deal with the EE-SE trade-off are suitable to fixed
EE-SE trade-off to optimally allocate the subcarriers’ power objective scenarios and can not deal with the dynamic changes
for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with
imperfect channel estimation. Finally, we use numerical results of the design objectives. These traditional approaches use
to discuss the choice of the trade-off parameter and study the EE as the objective function and impose constraints on the
effect of the estimation error, transmission power budget and SE, the transmit power and the fairness for multiple access
channel-to-noise ratio on the multiobjective optimization. systems. On the other hand, there are scenarios in wireless
Index Terms—Energy efficiency, spectral efficiency, multiob- communication systems in which we need to change the
jective optimization, OFDM, imperfect CSI, LMMSE. optimization objective function dynamically according to the
surrounding circumstances or application requirements.
A motivating scenario is when renewable energy sources
I. I NTRODUCTION are used in addition to diesel generators in base stations to
The dramatic growth of wireless communication services generate the required electrical energy [8]. In such a scenario,
and applications represents the main driving force to expand when the base station is powered by clean energy sources
the existing wireless infrastructure and to deploy new sys- (i.e., renewable sources), adopting EE as a design metric does
tems. Although the communication networks may be able to not have a green advantage, as the base station is working
support the increasing demand of high data rate and ubiqui- now with zero CO2 emissions. Thus, it is more beneficial to
tous services, the energy consumption increases significantly improve other quality of service (QoS) metrics, such as SE.
especially at the base stations. This accounts for most of the On the other hand, when the surrounding environment varies,
energy consumption of cellular networks, which represents an diesel generators are used to compensate for the shortage of
important contribution of the information and communication the renewable sources or even replace them. Therefore, con-
technology industry to the global CO2 emission [1], [2]. sidering the EE as the objective function becomes inevitable
Therefore, wireless communication systems have to be de- when the diesel generator is the only energy source, while
signed based on green metrics that reduce the energy consump- a multiobjective function taking into account the EE and
tion wisely, along with the associated CO2 emission [1], [2]. SE is used when both sources are employed. In the later
Energy efficiency (EE) is a widely used green communication case, the priority of each function is chosen according to
metric, defined either as the number of successfully delivered the contribution of each energy source in powering the base
bits per unit energy, which we adopt in this paper, or its inverse station.
In this paper, inspired by the green communication trend and
Osama Amin is with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, considering the variations of the objective functions according
Thuwal, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is with the Faculty of Engi- to the provided service or surrounding environment, we use
neering, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt, E-mail: [email protected], the multiobjective optimization to solve the resource allocation
[email protected].
Ebrahim Bedeer is with the School of Engineering, University of British problem for the EE-SE trade-off. First, we propose a general
Columbia, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada, E-mail: ebrahim.bedeer- framework to solve the multiobjective optimization of EE and
[email protected]. SE for a general communication system and prove that it
Mohamed H. Ahmed and Octavia A. Dobre are with Faculty of Engineering
and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, is equivalent to the multiobjective optimization problem of
A1C 5S7, Canada, E-mail: {mhahmed, odobre}@mun.ca. minimizing the total power consumption and maximizing the
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SE or achievable rate. Then, we apply the derived framework where θEE and θSE are normalization factors used to have
to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with the same range for the objective functions.1 It is well known
estimated CSI. that C(x) is a logarithmic function which is often a strictly-
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In Section II, concave function in x. Thus, the multiobjective function in (3)
we introduce the EE-SE multiobjective optimization general can provide a complete PF since objective functions are quasi-
framework. In Section III, we define the model for the OFDM convex with at least one function being strictly quasi-convex,
system with estimated CSI and apply the proposed approach i.e., −qC(x) [9, Ch. 1, pp. 4-11]. The non-convex non-linear
to allocate the power for the OFDM subcarriers considering fractional objective function in (3) can be transformed to the
the EE-SE tradeoff. Then, we present numerical simulation following equivalent convex function using the Dinkelback
results in Section IV and conclude the paper in Section V. approach [10]
Regarding the notation, bold face letters refer to vectors
M
!
(lower case) or matrices (upper case). The superscripts H and X
T represent the conjugate transpose and transpose operation, LEE−SE,1 = βθEE fm (x) + pc + (1 − β) θSE B
m=1
respectively, |.| denotes the absolute value, and .̂ denotes the
estimate value. − qC(x), (4)
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AMIN et al.: ENERGY EFFICIENCY SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY TRADE-OFF: A MULTIOBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION APPROACH 3
ing the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, LTE/LTE-A, and C2 : C (p) ≥ Rmin ,
others. OFDM is chosen over a single carrier solution because C3 : pm ≥ 0, m = 1, 2, . . . , M, (12)
it is well suited for wideband transmission and supports
higher data rates with reduced equalizer complexity. Thus, we where κ is a constant which depends on the power amplifier
consider a single-link OFDM wireless communication system efficiency. The constraints imposed in (12) represent the fol-
with single-antenna equipped nodes. The channel is assumed lowing: C1 reflects the total power budget of the proposed
to change slowly and is modeled as a finite impulse response system (PT ), C2 is related to the minimum rate constraint
T
system with order equal to L, h = [h(0), h(1), · · · , h(L)] , (Rmin ) that is used for rate sensitive applications, and C3
where each channel tap is assumed to be complex Gaussian guarantees positive power. The Lagrangian problem of (12)
distributed with zero-mean and variance σh2 . The noise at is written as,
the receive-side is modeled as additive white Gaussian noise
N
!
(AWGN) with zero-mean and correlation matrix equal to σn2 I. α X (1 − α)
At the transmitter, we assume a serial data sequence LEE−SE,con = κ pm + pc − C(p)
θp m=1
θc
that is divided into blocks, processed by a given pre-
M
!
coded matrix and loaded to M subcarriers. The transmitted X
+ λ1 pm − PT + y12
training pilot symbols xp are inserted in the transmitted
m=1
data with a known pattern. The receiver is assumed to be N
! !
equipped with the LMMSE channel estimator that gives ĥ =
X |Ĥ (W m )|2 Gpm
−1 + λ2 Rmin − ∆f log2 1+ 2 + y22 ,
σn2 R−1 H
h + Xp Xp XHp xr [11], where xr is the received m=1
σ∆H Gpm + σn2
signal block and Xp is an M × (L + 1) column wise circulant (13)
matrix with the first column equal to xp . The estimated CSI
is assumed to be sent through a reliable feedback channel where we introduce two slack variables y12 and y22 to transform
to the transmitter. The subchannel estimates
√ are computed the inequality constraints to equality constraints. By differen-
as [Ĥ(1), Ĥ(W ), . . . , Ĥ(W M −1 )]T = M FL ĥ [11], where tiating LEE−SE,con with respect to pm , m = 1, 2, ..., M , λ1 ,
Ĥ(W m−1 ) is the mth subcarrier channel estimate, W = λ2 , y1 and y2 , and equating the results to zero, we obtain the
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AMIN et al.: ENERGY EFFICIENCY SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY TRADE-OFF: A MULTIOBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION APPROACH 5
ηEE (kb/J)
ηSE (b/s/Hz)
6
LEE−SE,con = 0, which is similar to finding q in solving the 4.5 ηSE
EE problem. On the other hand, for a specific priority to EE
or SE, α can be chosen according to the average performance 3 4
of EE-SE trade-off that is discussed in the next section. PT
= 0.11
θP
1.5 PT
= 0.09 2
θP
IV. S IMULATION R ESULTS PT
= 0.04
θP
ηEE (kb/J)
(CNR) equal to 20 dB and accurate channel estimate with the 30
4.5 ηSE
MMSE of 0.001.
First, we investigate the choice of the trade-off parameter α 20
3
to achieve a given priority level for either EE or SE assuming ηEE
a sufficient power budget with PT /θp = 0.11 in Fig. 1. For
α = 0, the solution reduces to the maximum SE or achievable 1.5 10
rate, and for α = 1, the scenario reduces to the minimum
transmitted power. On the other hand, maximum average EE 0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
is achieved at α = αEE = 0.5. As α increases from zero to α
αEE , the EE increases and SE decreases, while both EE and
SE decrease when α changes from αEE to 1; thus, the former Fig. 2. EE and SE versus the priority parameter α for different circuits power
represents the region of interest. The average results depicted consumptions.
in Fig. 1 are used as a guide to choose α in order to achieve
a predetermined average EE or SE performance. For example,
if it is required to design the system for a green perspective 100 W and 20 W in addition to its original value of 300
while satisfying the average SE to 4.5 bit/sec/Hz, then we W, to investigate its effect on the EE-SE trade-off. From the
choose α = 0.35, while if the design targets to maximize the results presented in Fig. 2, it can be seen that EE improves
SE while keeping minimum average EE to 4 kb/J, then we as pc decreases because the total power consumption cost to
choose α = 0.1. transmit data decreases. For α = 0 the optimization problem
Additionally, we aim to study the effect of the useful reduces to SE maximization, and we observe equal maximum
transmission power ratio, i.e., PT /θp . For a large transmitted SE regardless of the value of pc because SE does not depend
power budget (PT /θp = 0.11), we observe the expected trade- on the circuitry power consumption, while for α > 0, the
off between EE and SE versus α. On the other hand, the objective function becomes a linear combination between EE
unavailability of sufficient transmission power budget limits and SE and thus depends on pc . Therefore, both EE and SE
the SE from improving as α decreases and limits the EE curve change with pc for α > 0, where EE improves as pc decreases,
from its expected trend, i.e., having a maximum at αEE and while SE improves as pc increases because both functions are
reducing as α decreases. Accordingly, and as can be noted contradicting. The value of αEE increases as pc decreases,
from Fig. 1, communication systems with low transmission specifically maximum EE is found at αEE = 0.5, 0.6 and
power efficiency, i.e., very small PT /θp values, have a nearly 0.7 for pc = 20 W, 100 W and 300 W. This shows
constant EE and SE performance versus α = 0 → αEE , which that communication systems with large pc are willing to
makes the EE solution equivalent to the SE solution. spend more transmission power to guarantee the successfully
Simulation Example 2: To study the effect of circuitry power delivery of the data and improve EE, while systems with small
consumption, we assume the scenario discussed in the previous pc tend to use less transmission power to improve EE.
simulation example with PT /θp = 0.11, and then let pc equal Simulation Example 3: In this example, we study the effect
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10 10
7.5 2
σΔH =0
ηEE 2
σΔH = 0.001
8 8 2
σΔH = 0.01
6 2
σΔH = 0.1
ηSE (b/s/Hz)
ηEE (kb/J)
6
ηEE (kb/J)
6
4.5 ηSE
4
3 4
2
ηSE,min = 0 2
1.5
ηSE,min = 2.3 b/s/Hz
ηSE,min = 4.6 b/s/Hz 0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 ηSE (b/s/Hz)
α
Fig. 4. EE versus SE for different MMSE values and at PT /θp = 0.11.
Fig. 3. EE and SE versus the priority parameter α for different minimum SE
constraints corresponding to minimum rate constraints.
relationship. The multiobjective optimization of the EE-SE is
equivalent to the multiobjective problem that minimizes the
of rate constraint on the EE-SE multiobjective problem. For
total power consumption and maximizes the SE or achievable
this purpose, we consider the scenario with sufficient power
rate. We applied the proposed framework to the OFDM system
budget, i.e., PT /θp = 0.11, and plot EE and SE versus
with estimated CSI and proposed a power loading algorithm to
α for different rate constraints in Fig. 3, where ηSE,min is
achieve the optimal EE-SE relationship. Through simulation
the SE corresponding to the minimum rate, expressed as
examples, we explained how to select the trade-off parameter
ηSE,min = Rmin /B. Unlike the unconstrained rate case from
to switch between different practical communication scenarios,
which the SE curve decreases as α increases and reaches
with different design requirements.
zero at α = 1, the constrained SE curves do not go below
the floor of the predetermined constraints, which is either
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[15] M. Deruyck, E. Tanghe, W. Joseph, W. Vereecken, M. Pickavet, Octavia A. Dobre received the Dipl. Ing. and Ph.
L. Martens, and B. Dhoedt, “Model for power consumption of wireless D. degrees in ECE from the Polytechnic University
access networks,” IET Science, Measurement and Technology, vol. 5, of Bucharest (formerly the Polytechnic Institute of
no. 4, pp. 155–161, Aug. 2011. Bucharest), Romania, in 1991 and 2000, respec-
tively. In 2000 she was the recipient of a Royal
Society scholarship at Westminster University, UK,
and in 2001 she held a Fulbright fellowship at
Stevens Institute of Technology, USA. Currently, she
Osama Amin received B.Sc. degree in Electrical is an Associate Professor with Memorial Univer-
and Electronics Engineering from Aswan University, sity, Canada.
Aswan, Egypt, in 2000, M.Sc. degree in Electrical Her research interests include blind signal iden-
Engineering from Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt tification and parameter estimation techniques, cognitive radio systems,
in 2004 and Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Com- transceiver optimization algorithms, dynamic spectrum access, cooperative
puter Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada communications, resource allocation, and coherent optical communications.
in 2010. In June 2012, he joined Assiut Univer- She published over 150 journal and conference papers in these areas. Dr.
sity as an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Dobre’s research has been supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Electronics Engineering department. Currently, he Research Council of Canada, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Research
is with King Abdullah University of Science and and Development Corporation, Defence and Research Development Canada,
Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Makkah, Kingdom Communications Research Centre Canada, Altera Corporation, DTA Systems,
of Saudi Arabia. His general research interests lie in communications systems and ThinkRF among others.
and signal processing for communications with special emphasis on wireless Dr. Dobre is a Senior Editor for the IEEE Communications Letters, as well
applications. Specific research areas include green communications, cognitive as an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications and IEEE
radio, cooperative communications, and channel estimation. He has served Communications Surveys and Tutorials. She has served as an Editor and Guest
as a Technical Program Committee member for IEEE VTC, ISSPIT and Editor for several other prestigious journals. She is the General Chair of IEEE
CROWNCOM conferences. CWIT 2015, and has served as Technical Program Co-Chair of symposia at
several conferences, including IEEE ICC and GLOBECOM. She is a registered
Professional Engineer (P. Eng.) in the province of Newfoundland, Canada.
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