How much power does a 5G station use?

The power consumption of a single 5G station is 2.5 to 3.5 times higher than that of a single 4G station. The main factor behind this increase in 5G power consumption is the high power usage of the active antenna unit (AAU). Under a full workload, a single station uses nearly 3700W.

Why does 5G use more power than 4G?

The data here all comes from operators on the front lines, and we can draw the following valuable conclusions: The power consumption of a single 5G station is 2.5 to 3.5 times higher than that of a single 4G station. The main factor behind this increase in 5G power consumption is the high power usage of the active antenna unit (AAU).

What is a 5G base station?

A 5G base station is mainly composed of the baseband unit (BBU) and the AAU — in 4G terms, the AAU is the remote radio unit (RRU) plus antenna. The role of the BBU is to handle baseband digital signal processing, while the AAU converts the baseband digital signal into an analog signal, and then modulates it into a high-frequency radio signal.

Does 5G New Radio save energy?

Emerging use cases and devices demand higher capacity from today’s mobile networks, leading to increasingly dense network deployments. In this post, we explore the energy saving features of 5G New Radio and how this enables operators to build denser networks, meet performance demands and maintain low 5G energy consumption.

Can network energy saving technologies mitigate 5G energy consumption?

This technical report explores how network energy saving technologies that have emerged since the 4G era, such as carrier shutdown, channel shutdown, symbol shutdown etc., can be leveraged to mitigate 5G energy consumption.

Why is low 5G energy consumption important?

With new devices and use cases increasing the capacity of the networks, the demand to ensure low 5G energy consumption is critical to minimizing operator expenses and ensuring they can still meet energy reduction goals. How can NR bring an answer? Figure 1: Global mobile data traffic outlook [Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2019].