  The achievable gains via power-optimal scheduling are investigated. Under the
QoS constraint of a guaranteed link rate, the overall power consumed by a
cellular BS is minimized. Available alternatives for the minimization of
transmit power consumption are presented. The transmit power is derived for the
two-user downlink situation. The analysis is extended to incorporate a BS power
model (which maps transmit power to supply power consumption) and the use of
DTX in a BS. Overall potential gains are evaluated by comparison of a
conventional SOTA BS with one that employs DTX exclusively, a power control
scheme and an optimal combined DTX and power control scheme. Fundamental limits
of the achievable savings are found to be at 5.5 dB under low load and 2 dB
under high load when comparing the SOTA consumption with optimal allocation
under the chosen power model.
