IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, VOL. 19, NO.

6, JUNE 2015

985

Energy Efficient Coordinated Beamforming Design

in Multi-Cell Multicast Networks
Shiwen He, Member, IEEE, Yongming Huang, Member, IEEE,
Shi Jin, Member, IEEE, and Luxi Yang, Member, IEEE
AbstractIn this letter, we study energy efficient physical layer
multicasting in multi-cell networks where each base station is
equipped with multiple antennas, and transmits a common message using a single beamformer to multiple users in the same cell.
The goal of our coordinated beamforming design is to maximize
the worst case system energy efficiency while guaranteeing that received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at each user
is above a predetermined threshold. The considered optimization
problem is in a non-convex fractional form and hard to tackle. We
propose to first transform the original problem into a tractable
optimization problem which is then solved by developing an iterative optimization algorithm with provable convergence. Numerical
results further validate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm
and show that the developed algorithm converges to a stable point
in a limited number of iterations.
Index TermsPhysical multicasting, energy efficiency maximization, fractional programming, beamforming and power
allocation, second order conic programming.

I. I NTRODUCTION

HE increasing demands for better services in wireless

communications involve higher transmission rate, lower
error rate and enhanced coverage. To achieve these objectives, advanced wireless transmission and signal processing
techniques have been intensively investigated. The extensive
research in the field of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)
technology has emerged as a powerful tool for improving the
performance by combating the unwanted effects of fading and
interference [1].
On the other hand, environmental and economic concerns
require to also account for the energy efficiency (EE) of a
communication network [2]. The topic of energy aware design,
named as green communications, has attracted increasing interest in the last few years [3][6]. The resource allocation problem for energy-efficient communication was investigated in
coordinated multi-cell orthogonal frequency division multiple
access (OFDMA) downlink networks by taking simultaneously
the wireless information transfer and the energy harvesting
Manuscript received November 17, 2014; revised February 28, 2015;
accepted April 1, 2015. Date of publication April 6, 2015; date of current
version June 5, 2015. This work was supported by 863 Program of China
under Grant 2015AA01A703, National Basic Research Program of China under
Grant 2013CB329002, National Natural Science Foundation of China under
Grants 61471120, 61422105 and 61372101, Natural Science Foundation of
Jiangsu Province under Grant BK20130019, Open Research Fund of the
Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of
Education. The associate editor coordinating the review of this paper and
approving it for publication was J. Choi.
S. He, S. Jin, and L. Yang are with the School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China (e-mail: shiwenhe@
seu.edu.cn; jinshi@seu.edu.cn; lxyang@seu.edu.cn).
Y. Huang is with the School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China, and also with the Key Laboratory of
System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of Education, Shanghai
Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China (e-mail: huangym@seu.edu.cn).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LCOMM.2015.2420565

into account [3]. In [4], the heterogeneity of large-scale user

behavior was leveraged to improve the EE in heterogeneous
cellular networks. Recently, the authors in [5], [6] investigated
the energy efficient coordinated precoding design for homogenous or heterogenous communication networks. It is worth
mentioning that the aformentioned works all consider a unicast
case, i.e., independent data are transmitted to multiple users.
Recently, multicast communication has attracted much attention in the research of next generation cellular communication system. In this direction, MIMO techniques have been
shown to achieve good results in the scenario of wireless
multicast to multiple cochannel groups [7]. In [8], two basic
problems, i.e., the problem of minimizing total transmission
power while guaranteeing a prescribed minimum signal-tointerference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at each receiver and the
fairness problem of maximizing the overall minimum SINR
under a total power budget, were solved for cochannel multicast
multigroup systems. The multicast beamforming problem was
also investigated from the viewpoint of minimizing outage
probability subject to a transmit power constraint [9]. The
coordinated multi-cell multicast max-min beamforming problem with per base station (BS) power constraints has been
studied in [10], where each BS transmits to a single multicast
group. Recently, the weighted max-min multigroup multicast
beamforming under per-antenna power constraints was further
studied in [11]. More recently, the sum rate maximization
problem under per-antenna power constraints was investigated
for multigroup multicast communication [12].
In this letter, we focus on the coordinated beamforming
design with the goal of maximizing the worst case system
energy efficiency (WCSEE) under per-BS power constraints
and individual minimum group user rate constraints in multicell multicast networks, which has not been studied in the
literature to the best of our knowledge. The original problem is
non-convex and is difficult to solve directly due to the coupling
between variables and its fractional form. To address it, the
original problem is firstly transformed into a tractable form by
jointly using the Successive Convex Approximation for Low
complExity (SCALE) method [13] and the fractional programming [14]. Then, an efficient optimization beamforming algorithm is developed to solve the transformed probelm and further
prove its convergence. Numerical results validate the effectiveness of the developed algorithm and show that our algorithm
converges to a stable point within a limited number of iterations.
II. S YSTEM M ODEL
Consider a multi-cell multicast network comprising of N
cells and Kj mobile users in the jth cell. The BS in the jth
cell is equipped with Mj antennas and each mobile user has a
single antenna, j = 1, , N . The received signal of the kth
user in the jth cell is given by
N
yj,k =
pm h H
k Gj , j (1)
m,j,k w m xm +zj,k ,
m=1

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986

IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, VOL. 19, NO. 6, JUNE 2015

where H represents the conjugate transpose operator, hm,j,k

CMm denotes the flat fading channel vector from the BS in the
mth cell to the kth user in the jth cell, xm denotes the information signal intended for all Km users in the mth cell with
E{xm } = 0 and E{xm 2 } = 1, wm denotes the Mm 1
unit-norm multicast beamforming vector used by the BS in the
mth cell, and zj,k is a zero-mean circularly symmetric complex
2
,
additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) with variance j,k
Gj denotes the set of users that belong to the jth cell. The
performance of each user can be characterized by the output
SINR, calculated as

2

pj  h H
j,j,k w j
SINRj,k = N
.
(2)
 H
2

 + 2
n=1,n=j pn hn,j,k w n
j,k
Notice that each user in the considered multi-cell multicast
network only suffers from the inter-cell interference, which is
different from multi-cell unicast systems where both inter-cell
interference and intra-cell interference exist.
For notational convenience, let W = {w1 , , wN } and
p = {p1 , , pN } denote respectively the beamforming vector
set and the transmit power vector. The WCSEE of interest is
defined as the ratio of the weighted sum of worst user rate
(WSWUR) to the total power consumption, given by
N
j=1 j Rj
max N
W ,p
j=1 (pj + j )
s.t. pj Pj , wj,k  = 1, SINRj,k j , k Gj , j, (3)
where   denotes the 2 norm, the weight j is used to
represent the priority of the jth cell, 1 is a constant which
accounts for the inefficiency of the power amplifier, j =
Mj Pc + P0 where Pc is the constant circuit power consumption
per antenna, P0 is the basic power consumed at each BS which
is independent of the number of transmit antennas [3], Pj is
the BS transmit power constraint in the jth cell, Rj denotes the
worst case user rate of the users in the jth cell and calculated
as Rj = log2 (1 + minkGj SINRj,k ), and j denotes the target
SINR to be achieved by the users in the jth cell. Since each
BS transmits a common information in a multicast manner, the
information rate for the users within one cell is the same, and
hence we set a common SINR target for all users in the same
cell [8][11]. Note that there also exists the feasibility issue
in the considered multicast EE optimization problem, which is
similar to the power minimization (PM) problem subject to a
prescribed minimum target rate demand set in [11]. Throughout
this paper, we assume that the set of per-group target SINR
requirements is feasible and only focus on finding the solution
to the problem.
III. E NERGY E FFICIENT M ULTICAST T RANSMISSION
It is well known that problem (3) is a non-convex optimization problem due to the fractional form of its objective
function and the inherent non-convex nature of the user rate in
the interference channel. To find an efficient solution, we first
introduce some auxiliary variables = {j }N
j=1 , problem (3)
can then be formulated as the following equivalent form [15]:
N
j=1 j log2 (1 + j )
max
N
W ,p,
j=1 (pj + j )
s.t. SINRj,k j , SINRj,k j , k Gj , j,
(4)
pj Pj , wj,k  = 1, k Gj , j.

It should be pointed out that the inequality min SINRj,k j is

kGj

met with equality and j j , j, once the optimum solution

to problem (4) is obtained, otherwise we can always scale up
the SINRs and obtain a better objective. This also means that
the optimum j is the corresponding optimum SINR value
of the worst user in the jth cell. In addition, the exact solution
of problem (4) is not straightforwardly obtained due to the
coupling between optimization variables in problem (4). Notice
that in this reformulation, the optimization of beamforming
vectors, W , and the optimization of power allocation, p and
can be decoupled into two subproblems [16].
A. Multicast Energy Efficient Power Optimization
It is easy to see that problem (4) is a non-convex optimization problem due to the non-convex nature of SINR
constraints and fraction objective function. Fortunately, the relation between the fractional programming and the subtractive
linear programming can be used to reformulate problem(4)
into
 a tractable form by introducing an auxiliary variable =
N

j log2 (1+j )

j=1

N

j=1

(pj +j )

which can be explained as the achievable EE

of the considered system, and is firstly fixed and then updated

using a sub-gradient method [14]. Based on this analysis, for
fixed , problem (4) is then rewritten as
N
max
(j ln(1 + j ) ln(2)pj )
W ,p,

j=1

s.t. SINRj,k j , SINRj,k j , pj Pj,kGj , j, (5)


where a constant term ln(2) N
j=1 j is ignored without affecting the final solution to problem (5). Notice that problem
(5) is still a non-convex optimization problem due to the nonconvex constraint SINRj,k j , SINRj,k j , j. To obtain
further a tractable convex formulation of problem (5) with
respect to the power allocation vector p and , the SCALE
method [13] is used to solve problem(5) by approximating
problem(5) into the following lower bound problem:

N 
j ln(2)pj
j R
max
W ,p,

j=1

s.t. SINRj,k j , SINRj,k j , pj Pj , k Gj ,

j,
(6)

j = j + j , j and j are approximation constants

where R
j
at approximated point j , given by
2j
j
j =
, j =
+ ln(1 + j ).
(7)
1 + j
1 + j

For a fixed beamforming vector W , {j } and {j }, it is

readily known that problem (6) can be easily solved with
the powerful geometric programming (GP) method. Similar
to the method used in [13], an iterative algorithm including
the maximization step (M-step) that is used to update the p
and for fixed beamforming vector W , {j } and {j }, and
the tighten step (T-step) that is used to update the value of
{j } and {j }, can be developed to solve problem (6) with
respect to variables p and for a fixed beamforming vector
W . According to the conclusion obtained in [13, Theorem 1,
pp. 3716], the updated p and produces a monotonically
increasing objective of problem (6).
B. Beamforming Optimization
For ease of notation, let p and be the obtained solution
to problem (6) with fixed W via the SCALE and fractional

HE et al.: ENERGY EFFICIENT COORDINATED BEAMFORMING DESIGN IN MULTI-CELL MULTICAST NETWORKS

programming methods. Before proceeding to update the transmit beamforming vector W , here, we resort to solving a sum
PM problem
is described as1
which
N
min
wj 2 s.t. wj 2
j=1

{wj }N
j=1

 j,k j , k Gj ,
Pj , SINR
 j,k is calculated as
where SINR
 H

hj,j,k wj 2

SINRj,k = N
 H

hn,j,k wn 2 + 2
n=1,n=j

j,

(8)

(9)

j,k

It is easy to know that problem (8) can be solved via jointly

using the semidefinite relaxation and Gaussian randomization
method [8], [17] or the classical second order conic programming (SOCP) optimization with the CVX tool packets [15],

[18]. For simplicity, let W be the optimal solution to problem

(8) with given target SINR , then Lemma 1 can be obtained.

Lemma 1: The EE achieved by the beamformers W is no

less than that achieved by W and p .
Proof: The optimal solution W to problem (8) aims
to minimize the transmit power with the multicast worst user
SINR achieved by W and p as the target SINR . It also
means that W achieves the same worst user rate which is
achieved by W and p without increasing additional transmit
power consumption. Recalling the constraint conditions in (6)

and j j , j, it it easy to see that W is also the solution

 j,k j , and SINR
 j,k = j , k Gj
of problem (6), i.e., SINR

and that W generates an nondecreasing objective of problem

(6). In other words, the WCSEE achieved by W is no less than

that achieved by W and p .

C. Algorithm Design
In this subsection, the proposed algorithm used to solve problem (4) is summarized as Algorithm 1 where is a predefined
small positive number used as the stop threshold.
Algorithm 1 Energy Efficient Multicast Transmission
1: Let n = 0, initialize the transmit power p(n) and the
beamformers W (n) by solving the total PM problem,
and calculate the (n) with p(n) and W (n) .
2: Solve problem (6) with fixed (n) , and W (n) via the
SCALE method as used in [13] and the GP method, then
obtain p(n+1) and (n+1) .
()
3: Solve problem (8) with (n+1) , and obtain W .
(n+1)

4: Let pj

() 2

(n+1)

=wj  and wj

()

wj

()

wj 
(n+1)

, j. Calculate the

(n+1)
and W
, and obtain (n+1)
value
 of with p
 .
 N

(n+1)
(n+1)
(n)
5:If  j=1 (j ln(1 + j
) (pj
+ j )) ,

then output p(n+1) and W (n+1) , otherwise let (n) =

(n+1) , p(n) = p(n+1) and W (n) = W (n+1) , then let
n = n + 1 and go to step 2.

1 The sum PM problem can also be used to check the feasibility of the
per-group target SINR requirements and initialize the transmit power
 j,k with
p and the transmit beamforming W by replacing SINR
j
 j,k j , j.
SINR

987

Lemma 2: The sequence generated by Algorithm 1 is a

monotonically increasing sequence and always converges.
Proof: According to the conclusions obtained in [13,
Theorem 1, pp. 3716] and Lemma 1, it is easily seen that the
updates of step 2 and step 4 in Algorithm 1 all aim to increase
the objective of problem (6) and the following relation holds.




N 
(n+1)
(n+1)
+ j
j ln 1 + j
(n) pj
j=1




N 
(n)
(n)
j ln 1+j
(n) pj +j = 0 (10)

j=1

After some basic manipulations and recalling the definition of

, we have


N
(n+1)
j ln 1 + j
j=1

 (n)
(n+1) = 
(11)
(n+1)
N
p
+

j
j
j=1
It also means that an increasing WCSEE sequence is generated
while the iteration is running. Since the achievable SINR region
under the transmit power constraint is bounded, the sum rate is
also bounded. Thus, the convergence of Algorithm 1 is guaranteed by the monotonic convergence theorem [19].

Remark 1: Notice that the developed algorithm in our letter
can be extended easily to the case where different user has
different SINR target in each cell. To this end, the target
SINR constraint SINRj,k j is replaced with SINRj,k
j,k , j, k, where j,k denotes the target SINR demand to be
achieved by the kth user in the jth cell.
Remark 2: Note that in [20], the energy efficient beamforming problem for a multi-cell unicast multiuser system subject to
per-BS power constraints has been solved by jointly using the
fractional programming method and the relation between the
user rate and minimum mean square errors. Though apparently
the multicast system is a special case of unicast system, the
Lagrange multiplier method based algorithm developed in [20]
cannot be applied directly to solve our problem (3), due to
the different objective function in our problem formulation and
the introducing of multiple non-convex individual constraints.
This motivates us to develop the above layered optimization
algorithm which can also be easily extended to address the
multi-cell unicast EE optimization problem.
IV. S IMULATION R ESULTS
In this section, we investigate the performance of the proposed multi-cell multicast energy efficient beamforming algorithm via numerical simulations. We consider a cooperative
cluster of N = 3 hexagonal adjacent cells where each BS
is equipped with M transmit antennas and serves K single
antenna users in each cell. The cell radius is set to be 200 m
and each user has at least 150 m distance from its serving
BS. The channel vector hm,j,k from the BS in mth cell to
kth user in
 jth cell is generatedwbased on the formulation
hm,j,k  m,j,k hw
m,j,k , where hm,j,k denotes the small scale
fading part and is assumed to be Gaussian distributed with
zero mean and identity covariance matrix, and m,j,k denotes
the large scale fading factor which in decibels is given as
10 log10 (m,j,k ) = 38 log10 (dm,j,k ) 34.5 + m,j,k , where
m,j,k represents the log-normal shadow fading with zero mean
and standard deviation 8 dB. The circuit power per antenna
is Pc = 30 dBm, and the basic power consumed at the BS is
P0 = 40 dBm [3]. As for the power constraints, we assume
that each BS has the same power constraint over the whole
2
bandwidth. The noise figure and the noise variance j,k
are set
to be 9 dB, and 144 dBm, j, k, respectively. The weighted

988

IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, VOL. 19, NO. 6, JUNE 2015

Fig. 1. The convergence trajectory of the proposed solution, Pj = 26 dBm,

j, M = 4, K = 2.

Fig. 2. Energy efficiency comparison of Algorithm 1 with different system

configuration, M = 4, K = 2.
TABLE I
U TILIZED P OWER C OMPARISON , M = 4, K = 2.

factor j is set to unit for any j. The inefficiency factor of power

amplifier and the convergence thresholds are set to unit and
104 , respectively. The set of target SINR is set to be the set
of the corresponding SINR values achieved with beamforming
vectors generated randomly and full power transmission.
Fig. 1 shows the convergence behavior of Algorithm 1 under
a few random channel realizations, where the magenta hexagram denotes the updated value of the WCSEE in step 3.
Numerical results illustrate that Algorithm 1 always generates
a nondecreasing sequence, and converges to a stable point.
Fig. 2 shows the WCSEE performance achieved by
Algorithm 1 over 1000 random channel realizations. Numerical
results illustrate that the WCSEE performance achieved by
Algorithm 1 is always significantly better than that of the power
minimization (PM) algorithm. In particular, it is observed that
the WCSEE increases with the transmit power constraint at the
low transmit power region, and saturates in the middle-high
transmit power region, such as 3446 dBm. This means that in
the middle-high transmit power, the WCSEE of the considered
system does not increases with the maximum power constraints
Pj . In other words, to achieve the maximum WCSEE, the BS
dose not necessarily transmits at full power. This is because that
there is a diminishing return in the system capacity with respect
to the increment of transmit power [3], [5], [6], [20].
Table I lists the power consumption of our developed algorithm and the PM algorithm. It is seen that compared with
the PM algorithm, Algorithm 1 consumes much more transmit
power, implying that the WCSEE solution usually achieves
SINRs that are much greater than the SINR target, which the
PM algorithm only achieves exactly the target SINRs. It is also
observed that in the low transmit power constraint such as
26 dBm, almost all the available power is used to maximize
the WCSEE.
V. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, energy efficient multi-cell multicast beamforming design was investigated with the goal of maximizing the

system weighted worst case EE under per-BS power constraint

and individual minimum group user rate constraint. To solve
it, the original problem was firstly transformed into a tractable
form by jointly using the SCALE method and the fractional
programming. Then, an efficient optimization beamforming
algorithm with provable convergence was developed to solve
the transformed problem. Numerical results validate the effectiveness of the developed algorithm and show that the worst
case system EE increases with the transmit power constraint at
the low transmit power region and saturates in the middle-high
transmit power region.
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