Dynamic bandwidth adaptation

LTE offers a wide spectrum of possible bandwidth usage, specified in steps of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 MHz. With the higher bandwidth more resource blocks can be utilized and more traffic load can be supported. The traffic variation over time and space requires dimensioning of the BS for high data transmission peaks. This means, that for a major part of the day, power is wasted. To save energy in lower traffic load we proposed a stepwise adaptation of the bandwidth usage to the required average traffic load, i.e. a stepwise adaptation of the maximum number of resource blocks that are used during each LTE subframe. The energy saving potential of macro base stations has been calculated to be up to 21.4% and 29.3% along a day, based on the daily dense urban and suburban traffic profiles, respectively.