Green framework for future heterogeneous wireless networks

Energy-efficient communication has sparked tremendous interest in recent years as one of the main design goals of future wireless Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets). This has resulted in paradigm shift of current operation from data oriented to energy-efficient oriented networks. In this paper, we propose a framework for green communications in wireless HetNets. This framework is cognitive in holistic sense and aims at improving energy efficiency of the whole system, not just one isolated part of the network. In particular, we propose a cyclic approach, named as energy-cognitive cycle, which extends the classic cognitive cycle and enables dynamic selection of different available strategies for reducing the energy consumption in the network while satisfying the quality of service constraints.