07 August 2020
Tu Jiashun, chief scientist, virtualization, ZTE
There is a growing concern in our industry around the environmental impact of our communications networks. These issues are not going away and as we move into the 5G era, the industry needs to act now to mitigate the impact of our energy consumption on the planet. 5G will see an explosion of traffic on our networks, driven by increased coverage, much faster speeds than ever before and the need to support massive IoT terminals and millions of connected objects. It has been predicted that total IoT connections on 5G networks could reach 1.35 billion by 2025.
In order to break the energy curve, we must ensure that we lessen the environmental impact of our current network infrastructure and the networks we are building for the future will also be designed with these considerations from the outset. New technological developments are already making strides to address this and in some areas we have already seen a 10 times increase in efficiency between our 4G and 5G networks. In order to break the energy curve, network energy efficiency needs to increase up to 100 times in the long-term from what it is currently. Luckily there are a host of technologies that will help us reach this ambitious goal.
From streetlamps to flashlights, one technology that has seen significant investment in research and development is Massive MIMO. This technology is key to unlocking efficiency in 4G and 5G networks and is used widely in telecommunications infrastructure.
By way of an explanation, traditional base stations act a lot like a streetlamp. They emit a large signal with a wide radius and cover a lot of ground. The terminal that needs to access this signal only has one point of reception however. This means that the traditional base station is consuming large amounts of energy – much of which is wasted. Through the implementation of Massive MIMO however, you can turn that streetlamp into a flashlight, with a narrow and concentrated signal beam. This significantly reduces energy consumption while achieving the same signal level. Currently, Massive MIMO is perhaps the most advanced technology being implemented in an attempt to improve energy efficiency in telecommunications networks. It has been shown that it can improve efficiency by up to a dozen times that of a traditional base station. This technology has been implemented already on the 4G network but will also help to shape the next generation of telecommunications networks heading into the 5G era.
Another exciting area of development is in the arena of artificial intelligence (AI). It is still early days for AI and the technology’s potential has been widely discussed in the technology sector for many years. We have already developed algorithms that are designed to monitor network traffic and make necessary adjustments in order to save energy. Traffic on the network is not constant and can dip or spike frequently depending on numerous factors. For example, during the day we experience far more network traffic than at night when some entire parts of the network can be shut down in order to save energy. This is one area in which AI has proven to be highly effective at cutting down energy consumption. Some algorithms have been developed to predict network traffic and match network capacity and performance to the traffic on the network at any given time. In Shandong, China, where this technology is already used commercially, AI energy saving solutions have led to a 150% increase in the power saved since its implementation. The energy saved across 10,000 cells at approximately 3,300 sites exceeded 21,000 kWh per week. This represents a reduction in carbon emissions of around 980 tons annually. Even more interestingly, this also resulted in major savings on electricity bills over the course of a year. The significance of this cannot be overstated. Only when organisations recognise that investment in green network solutions is commercially beneficial will we see the sort of sea-change needed to make a real and lasting change in our industry.
The green network revolution has already started and it is encouraging to watch our industry wake up to the impact that we can have on our planet. To date, ZTE has applied for a total of 563 patents for green technology solutions. Of these, 146 are already operational and are currently being deployed not just in China but also in Europe and the United States. Innovation in this area will continue to be a priority of ZTE and other carriers in the industry. That said, we must not expect technological advances alone to be sufficient in making the necessary strides to a greener planet. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for us all to stay connected wherever we are and whatever our circumstances. This has, and will, continue to drive our society towards increasing digital communication. Our networks need to be able to support this. Parallel to this shift in how we communicate, we must also urge companies and individuals to explore new ways of working and living which focus on environmental consciousness. By pursuing this path, we are confident that working together as a society we can mitigate the damage to our planet.
By Tu Jiashun, chief scientist, virtualization, ZTE
