Energy-Efficient Multi-Radio Microwave and IAB-Based Fixed Wireless Access for Rural Areas

2025-12-15

AI Summary

In rural areas with low population density, deploying fiber-optic “last-mile” infrastructure is economically infeasible, necessitating energy-efficient broadband access solutions. Current 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) suffers from limited single-hop coverage, while multihop architectures incur rapidly escalating energy consumption with increasing hop count; moreover, existing studies neglect fine-grained power modeling of radio-frequency components. Method: This paper proposes a novel multihop architecture integrating microwave relaying, integrated access and backhaul (IAB), and FWA. It jointly optimizes microwave RF power states (off, wake-up, deep sleep) and IAB resource block allocation via a synergistic framework combining dual decomposition, multi-convex optimization, and dynamic programming—subject to a per-user downlink rate constraint of ≥100 Mbps. Contribution/Results: The proposed approach maximizes end-to-end energy efficiency. Simulation results demonstrate a 37.2% reduction in total system energy consumption versus baseline schemes, significantly enhancing the energy-efficiency–capacity trade-off.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Search and Optimization: Sampling/Simulation-based Search
• Multiagent Systems: Mechanism Design

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Efficiency and scalability of Web search engines
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs

Abstract

Deploying fiber optics as a last-mile solution in rural areas is not economically viable due to low population density. Nevertheless, providing high-speed internet access in these regions is essential to promote digital inclusion. 5G Fixed Wireless Access (5G FWA) has emerged as a promising alternative; however, its one-hop topology limits coverage. To overcome this limitation, a multi-hop architecture is required. This work proposes a unified multi-hop framework that integrates long-haul microwave, Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB), and FWA to provide wide coverage and high capacity in rural areas. As the number of hops increases, total energy consumption also rises, a challenge often overlooked in existing literature. To address this, we propose an energy-efficient multi-radio microwave and IAB-based FWA framework for rural area connectivity. When the network is underutilized, the proposed approach dynamically operates at reduced capacity to minimize energy consumption. We optimize the off, start-up, serving, deep sleep, and wake-up sates of microwave radios to balance energy use and satisfying data rate requirements. Additionally, we optimize resource block allocation for IAB-based FWA nodes connected to microwave backhaul. The formulated optimization problems aim to minimize the energy consumption of long-haul microwave and multi-hop IAB-based network while satisfying data rate constraints. These problems are solved using dual decomposition and multi-convex programming, supported by dynamic programming. Simulation results demonstrates

Problem

• Extends 5G FWA coverage in rural areas via multi-hop architecture
• Reduces energy consumption in underutilized multi-hop rural networks
• Optimizes radio states and resource allocation for energy efficiency

Innovation

• Multi-hop framework with microwave, IAB, and FWA integration
• Dynamic capacity reduction for energy efficiency in underutilized networks
• Optimized radio states and resource allocation using dual decomposition