Toward Massive Machine Type Cellular Communications

TLDR

Cellular networks, designed for ever‑increasing mobile data, are now facing a new wave of machine‑centric applications such as sensors and meters that promise revenue but bring challenges of high overhead, control signaling, and stringent constraints on complexity, energy, timing, and continuous data uploads. This article surveys the requirements and challenges of large‑scale machine‑type communications and proposes economic models to enable their growth within cellular networks. It reviews how 4.5G and 5G technologies can support both high‑rate human‑type traffic and the forecasted billions of MTC devices by addressing these challenges.

Abstract

Cellular networks have been engineered and optimized to carrying ever-increasing amounts of mobile data, but over the last few years, a new class of applications based on machine-centric communications has begun to emerge. Automated devices such as sensors, tracking devices, and meters, often referred to as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communications (MTC), introduce an attractive revenue stream for mobile network operators, if a massive number of them can be efficiently supported. The novel technical challenges posed by MTC applications include increased overhead and control signaling as well as diverse application-specific constraints such as ultra-low complexity, extreme energy efficiency, critical timing, and continuous data intensive uploading. This article explains the new requirements and challenges that large-scale MTC applications introduce, and provides a survey of key techniques for overcoming them. We focus on the potential of 4.5G and 5G networks to serve both the high data rate needs of conventional human-type communication (HTC) subscribers and the forecasted billions of new MTC devices. We also opine on attractive economic models that will enable this new class of cellular subscribers to grow to its full potential.