Postdisaster user location maneuvering method for improving the QoE guaranteed service time in energy harvesting small cell networks

The concept of energy harvesting small cell networks (EH-SCNs) has attracted a great deal of attention due to their potential to meet the exponential growth of mobile data traffic with low capital expenditure and operating expenditure. In addition, they are expected to work as a postdisaster wireless access network since exploiting green energy sources to power small cell base stations can overcome the power disruption caused by disasters. However, since the amount of harvested power is not enough for the stable network operation, the networks need to equipped with energy-efficient networking techniques. Additionally, in order to share the accurate postdisaster information, the networks should satisfy a certain quality of experience (QoE) of users in disaster areas. To deal with these challenges, we propose a user location maneuvering method, which advisory controls user's movement to improve the service time of EH-SCNs while guaranteeing a certain QoE level. We also propose an algorithm based on particle swarm optimization, which is configured with appropriate settings to find the best location of users efficiently. Extensive computer simulations show that the proposed maneuvering method can improve the QoE guaranteed service ratio, compared with the existing network operation approaches.