Enhanced mobility and energy efficiency in 5G ultra-dense networks with lean carrier design

5G networks are expected to support significantly higher data rates than legacy networks through ultra-dense deployment of networks, higher system bandwidths and higher spectral efficiency. Such networks would also be supporting a diverse set of use cases in order to provide connectivity solutions for other industry verticals. One of the key requirements of 5G is to support all these enhancements with higher energy efficiency, for which the lean system design avoiding always-on signals is considered to be a key enabler. In this paper, we propose a mobility based reference signal configuration adaptation mechanism, and investigate the impacts on mobility support and energy efficiency with such a system design. Based on the performance evaluations conducted, it is shown that such lean design, optimized for mobility can provide enhanced mobility support and higher user throughput, while enabling higher energy saving potential. The higher throughput is obtained due to the reduction of always-on signals which are used for discovery in legacy networks and flexibly utilizing them for data transmissions in 5G networks.