Despite the potential for higher energy efficiency in 5G networks, current 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) deployments often operate suboptimally due to low utilization of 4G and 5G carriers during extended periods. Since base stations are the primary contributors to network energy consumption, implementing cell on/off switching and traffic offloading strategies is crucial for enhancing energy efficiency in current deployments. This paper investigates energy-saving opportunities based on these strategies in a real 5G NSA deployment, utilizing a dataset provided by a European Mobile Network Operator. Using Key Performance Indicators from the dataset, we propose a data-driven framework to evaluate the energy-saving and QoS tradeoff when selectively deactivating underutilized 5G cells and offloading their traffic to 4G cells with enough resources within the same sector and site. Our results demonstrate network-wide cell switch-off opportunities ranging from 17% to 79%, while ensuring data rates between 25 Mbps and 5 Mbps, respectively.

翻译：尽管5G网络具有更高的能效潜力，但当前5G非独立组网（NSA）部署常因4G与5G载波在长时间内利用率低下而处于次优运行状态。由于基站是网络能耗的主要贡献者，实施小区开/关切换与流量卸载策略对提升当前部署的能效至关重要。本文基于真实5G NSA部署场景，利用欧洲移动网络运营商提供的数据集，探究基于上述策略的节能机会。通过数据集中的关键性能指标，我们提出了一种数据驱动框架，用于评估选择性关闭低利用率5G小区并将其流量卸载至同扇区同站点内资源充足的4G小区时的节能与服务质量权衡。研究结果表明，在网络范围内，小区关断机会可达17%至79%，同时可分别确保25 Mbps至5 Mbps的数据速率。