On the Hybrid Use of Unicast/Broadcast Networks Under Energy Criterion

Mobile network operators are confronted to an exponential growth of their traffic. One of the causes of this growth is the delivery of video services, including mobile television. Using a broadcast component like MBMS or DVB-H for the provision of the most popular mobile television channels can minimize their impact on the mobile network traffic. Such a component can also be investigated for other types of popular services and open the door to hybrid broadcast/unicast networks. The key factor for the efficiency of this approach is the choice of the services to be transmitted through the broadcast component. In this article, we introduce an energy criterion to make this choice. We use a simplified model of an hybrid network combining a DVB-T2 broadcast component to a LTE unicast component. Through the statistical study of the reception conditions of the users in this network, we evaluate the power gain brought by the use of the broadcast component for the delivery of a service as a function of the number of users that are using this service.