5G • 5G-Advanced (Rel-18)
Dynamic Carrier Shutdown
Load-Driven Secondary Component Carrier Deactivation
Automatically powers down entire secondary carrier frequencies (e.g. 2.6 GHz or mmWave) when primary low-band carriers can easily carry all user load.
Technical Explanation
Multi-carrier cell sites often run multiple high-capacity carriers that sit idle at night. Rel-18 Dynamic Carrier Shutdown uses automated traffic load monitoring: when network utilization falls below defined thresholds, secondary component carriers are powered down completely, concentrating all connected UEs onto the single primary low-band carrier.
Key Functions
- Powers down entire high-frequency secondary component carriers during light loads
- Transfers active connected users to remaining base carriers via seamless handovers
- Saves substantial power by deactivating entire baseband and power amplifier subsystems
- Wakes dormant carriers in under 1 second when sudden traffic spikes are detected
Specifications
3GPP TR 38.864, TS 38.300 (Rel-18)
Interfaces
O1XnUu
Related 5G Concepts
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