Biplab Sikdar
Abstract
Wireless local area networks have become an ubiquitous means for network access in both residential and commercial locations over the recent past. Given their widespread deployment, it is of importance to understand their environmental impact and this paper presents a life cycle assessment of the energy intensity of IEEE 802.11 wireless access points. Following a cradle-to-grave approach, we evaluate the energy consumed in the manufacture of access points (including the extraction of raw materials, component manufacturing, assembly, and transportation) as well as during its actual usage. Our results show that the manufacturing stage is responsible for a significant fraction of the overall energy consumption. In light of our findings, increasing the overall lifetime is one of the recommended ways to reduce the environmental impact of access points.
- B. Ogilvie, "Clock solutions for WiFi (IEEE 802.11)," Saronix Application Note, 2003.Google Scholar
- A. Hills, "Smart Wi-Fi," Scientific American Magazine, vol. 293, no. 4, pp. 86--94, October 2005.Google ScholarCross Ref
- J. Trachewsky, A. Rofougaran, A. Behzad, T. Robinson and E. Frank, "Broadcom WLAN Chipset for 802.11a/b/g," Broadcom Corporation, 2003.Google Scholar
- E. Williams, "Energy intensity of computer manufacturing: Hybrid assessment combining process and economic input-output methods," Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 38. no. 6, pp. 6166--6174, October 2004.Google ScholarCross Ref
- T. Ueno, T. Shiino and H. Onishi, "Evaluation of electronic components in the life cycle assessment," Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 25--32, April 1999.Google Scholar
- H. Yamaguchi, K. Tahara, N. Itsubo and A. Inaba, "A life cycle inventory analysis of cellular phones," Proc. of EcoDesign, pp. 445--451, Tokyo, Japan, December 2003.Google Scholar
- J. Yu, E. Williams and M. Ju, "Analysis of material and energy consumption of mobile phones in China," Energy Policy, 2010.Google Scholar
- M. Emmenegger, R Frischknecht, M. Stutz, M. Gupaisberg, R. Witschi and T. Otto, "Life cycle assessment of the mobile communication system UMTS: Towards eco-efficient systems," International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 265--276, July 2006.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, IEEE standards 802.11, January 1997.Google Scholar
- United States Environmental Protection Agency, "Municipal solid waste generation, recycling, and disposal in the United States," Office of Solid Waste (5306P) report EPA530-R-08-010, November 2007.Google Scholar
- T. Tee, H. Ng, Z. Zhong and J. Zhou, "Board-level solder joint reliability analysis of thermally enhanced BGAs and LGAs," IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging, vol.29, no.2, pp. 284--290, May 2006.Google ScholarCross Ref
- R. Tummala, E. Rymaszewski and A. Klopfenstein, Microelectronics packaging handbook, Part II, Chapman and Hall, 1997.Google Scholar
- Central Semiconductors, "Process CP178 Power Transistor," datasheet, June 2003.Google Scholar
- N. Dye and H. Granberg, "Using RF transistors," Electronics World - Wireless World, vol. 100, no. 3, pp. 218--223, March 1994.Google Scholar
- R. Carlson A.-C. Palsson, "Establishment of CPM's LCA Database," CPM Report, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, 1998.Google Scholar
- A. Andræ, R. Andersson and J. Liu, "Significance of intermediate production processes in life cycle assessment of electronic products assessed using a generic compact model," Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 13, no. 13-14, pp. 1269--1279, Nov.-Dec. 2005.Google ScholarCross Ref
- United State Department of Energy, "Energy and Environmental Profile of the U.S. Aluminum Industry," July 1997.Google Scholar
- J. von Geibler, M. Ritthoff and M. Kuhndt, "The environmental impacts of mobile computing: A case study with HP," Wuppertal Institute, Wuppertal, 2003.Google Scholar
- C. Facanha and A. Horvath, "Environmental assessment of freight transportation in the U.S.," International Journal of Life-Cycle Assessment, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 229--239, 2006.Google ScholarCross Ref
- A. Pressman, K. Billings and T. Morey, Switching Power Supply Design, McGraw-Hill, 2009.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Environmental impact of IEEE 802.11 access points: a case study
Recommendations
Improving the Aggregate Throughput of Access Points in IEEE 802.11 Wireless LANs
LCN '03: Proceedings of the 28th Annual IEEE International Conference on Local Computer NetworksIn IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs, the DCF access methodand the PCF access method operate alternatively withina superframe to service the time-varying traffic demands.Due to different medium access mechanisms deployed byDCF and PCF, they work well for some ...
Airtime Fairness for IEEE 802.11 Multirate Networks
Under a multi rate network scenario, the IEEE 802.11 DCF MAC fails to provide air-time fairness for all competing stations since the protocol is designed for ensuring max-min throughput fairness and the maximum achievable throughput by any station gets ...
Improving IEEE 802.11 power saving mechanism
This paper presents an optimization of the power saving mechanism in the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) in an Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) of the IEEE 802.11 standard. In the power saving mode specified for DCF, time is divided into so-...
Comments