Abstract
Energy efficiency has become an important aspect of wireless communication, both economically and environmentally. This letter investigates the energy efficiency of downlink AWGN channels by employing multiple decoding policies. The overall energy efficiency of the system is based on the bits-per-joule metric, where energy efficiency contours are used to locate the optimal operating points based on the system requirements. Our novel approach uses a linear power model to define the total power consumed at the base station, encompassing the circuit and processing power, and amplifier efficiency, and ensures that the best energy efficiency value can be achieved whilst satisfying other system targets such as QoS and rate-fairness.