Due to an ever-expansive network deployment, numerous questions are being raised regarding the energy consumption of the mobile network. Recently, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) have proven to be a useful, and complementary solution to Terrestrial Networks (TN) to provide ubiquitous coverage. In this paper, we consider an integrated TN-NTN, and study how to maximize its resource usage in a dynamic traffic scenario. We introduce BLASTER, a framework designed to control User Equipment (UE) association, Base Station (BS) transmit power and activation, and bandwidth allocation between the terrestrial and non-terrestrial tiers. Our proposal is able to adapt to fluctuating daily traffic, focusing on reducing power consumption throughout the network during low traffic and distributing the load otherwise. Simulation results show an average daily decrease of total power consumption by 45% compared to a network model following 3GPP recommendation, as well as an average throughput increase of roughly 250%. Our paper underlines the central and dynamic role that the NTN plays in improving key areas of concern for network flexibility.

翻译：随着网络部署的不断扩展，移动网络的能耗问题日益受到关注。近年来，非地面网络已被证明是地面网络的一种有效补充方案，能够提供无处不在的覆盖。本文研究一种集成的天地网络，并探讨如何在动态流量场景下最大化其资源利用率。我们提出了BLASTER框架，该框架旨在控制用户设备关联、基站发射功率与激活状态，以及地面层与非地面层之间的带宽分配。我们的方案能够适应日常流量的波动，重点在于低流量时降低全网功耗，并在其他时段合理分配负载。仿真结果表明，与遵循3GPP建议的网络模型相比，该方案使日均总功耗平均降低45%，平均吞吐量提升约250%。本文强调了非地面网络在提升网络灵活性等关键领域所发挥的核心且动态的作用。