Literature review reveals energy measurement, modeling, and optimization strategies in Open Radio Access Networks, highlighting pathways toward sustainable cellular infrastructure.
The rapid evolution of cellular networks has made them a critical infrastructure for modern society, but it has also led to quickly increasing energy consumption. Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN), with its disaggregated architecture, offers significant potential for improving energy efficiency (EE) in next-generation networks. This survey presents a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art O-RAN energy efficiency research, structured around three key dimensions: energy measurement, energy modeling, and energy optimization. We examine both software- and hardware-based measurement techniques, highlighting their strengths, limitations, and applicability on different network functions. The survey then categorizes existing energy consumption models into theoretical and empirical approaches, with a discussion of their methodologies and constraints. Finally, we explore energy optimization strategies defined by O-RAN specifications and beyond, revealing diverse technical directions in academia and industry. The survey also highlights emerging research challenges, including the lack of high-fidelity and generic datasets, the need for standardized evaluation frameworks and methodologies, and the impact of continuous O-RAN evolution on the validity of existing studies. Overall, this work aims to serve as a foundational reference for researchers and engineers to build sustainable and energy-aware O-RAN networks.
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Sun et al. (2026) studied this question.
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