Abstract
In this paper, we derive a generic closed-form approximation (CFA) of the energy efficiency-spectral efficiency (EE-SE) trade-off for the uplink of coordinated multi-point (CoMP) system and demonstrate its accuracy for both idealistic and realistic power consumption models (PCMs). We utilize our CFA to compare CoMP against conventional non-cooperative system with orthogonal multiple access. In the idealistic PCM, CoMP is more energy efficient than non-cooperative system due to a reduction in power consumption; whereas in the realistic PCM, CoMP can also be more energy efficient but due to an improvement in SE and mainly for cell-edge communication and small cell deployment. © 2012 IEEE.