Concurrent data transmissions in green wireless networks: When best send one's packets?

In this paper, we consider the scenario of a cellular network where base stations aim to transmit several data packets to a set of users in the downlink, within a predefined time, at minimal energy cost. The base stations are non-cooperating and the instantaneous transmission rate depends on the instantaneous SINR at the receiver. The purpose of this article is to highlight a power-efficient transmit policy. By assuming a large number of homogeneous users, we model the problem as a mean field game, with tractable equations, that allow us to bypass the complexity of analyzing a Nash equilibrium in a L-body dynamic game. The framework we propose yields a consistent analysis of the optimal transmit power strategy, that allows every base station to, selfishly but rationally, satisfy its transmission, at a minimal energy cost.