Internet of Things and Sensors Networks in 5G Wireless Communications

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue Internet of Things and Sensors Networks in 5G Wireless Communications that was published in Sensors

Analysis of Downlink Connectivity in NB-IoT Networks Employing NOMA with Imperfect SIC

International audienceWe study the problem of maximizing the number of served devices in a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) based Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network for supporting massive connectivity in the downlink. We analyze this problem under practical system limitations of imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC) at the receiver along with data rate, power and bandwidth constraints. We propose a strategy for joint device and power allocation through an iterative solution for a system of linear equations on each sub-carrier that maximizes the number of connected devices. We evaluate the performance of the proposed solution over a wide range of service scenarios through extensive computer simulations and demonstrate the sensitivity of connectivity in power domain NOMA based NB-IoT systems to the residual interference resulting from imperfect SIC

Internet of Things and Sensors Networks in 5G Wireless Communications

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue Internet of Things and Sensors Networks in 5G Wireless Communications that was published in Sensors

Internet of Things and Sensors Networks in 5G Wireless Communications

The Internet of Things (IoT) has attracted much attention from society, industry and academia as a promising technology that can enhance day to day activities, and the creation of new business models, products and services, and serve as a broad source of research topics and ideas. A future digital society is envisioned, composed of numerous wireless connected sensors and devices. Driven by huge demand, the massive IoT (mIoT) or massive machine type communication (mMTC) has been identified as one of the three main communication scenarios for 5G. In addition to connectivity, computing and storage and data management are also long-standing issues for low-cost devices and sensors. The book is a collection of outstanding technical research and industrial papers covering new research results, with a wide range of features within the 5G-and-beyond framework. It provides a range of discussions of the major research challenges and achievements within this topic

Maximizing Connection Density in NB-IoT Networks with NOMA

International audienceWe address the issue of maximizing the number of connected devices in a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network using non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). The scheduling assignment is done on a per-transmit time interval (TTI) basis and focuses on efficient device clustering. We formulate the problem as a combinatorial optimization problem and solve it under interference, rate and sub-carrier availability constraints. We first present the bottom-up power filling algorithm (BU), which solves the problem given that each device can only be allocated contiguous sub-carriers. Then, we propose the item clustering heuristic (IC) which tackles the more general problem of non-contiguous allocation. The novelty of our optimization framework is twofold. First, it allows any number of devices to be multiplexed per sub-carrier, which is based on the successive interference cancellation (SIC) capabilities of the network. Secondly, whereas most existing works only consider contiguous sub-carrier allocation, we also study the performance of allocating non-contiguous sub-carriers to each device. We show through extensive simulations that non-contiguous allocation through IC scheme can outperform BU and other existing contiguous allocation methods

Downlink Connection Density Maximization for NB-IoT Networks using NOMA with Perfect and Partial CSI

International audienceWe address the issue of maximizing the number of connected devices in a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network using non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in the downlink. We first propose an optimal joint sub-carrier and power allocation strategy assuming perfect channel state information (CSI) called Stratified Device Allocation (SDA), that maximizes the connectivity under data rate, power and bandwidth constraints. Then, we generalize the connectivity maximization problem to the case of partial CSI, where only the distancedependent path-loss component of the channel gain is available at the base station (BS). We introduce a novel framework called the Stochastic Connectivity Optimization (SCO) framework. In this framework, we propose a heuristic improvement to SDA namely SDA with Excess Power (SDA-EP) algorithm for operation under partial CSI. Furthermore, we derive a concave approximation (SCO-CA) algorithm of near-optimal performance to SCO given the same amount of CSI. Through computer simulations, we show that SDA-EP and SCO-CA outperform conventional NOMA and OMA schemes in the presence of partial CSI over a wide range of service scenarios

Cellular, Wide-Area, and Non-Terrestrial IoT: A Survey on 5G Advances and the Road Towards 6G

The next wave of wireless technologies is proliferating in connecting things among themselves as well as to humans. In the era of the Internet of things (IoT), billions of sensors, machines, vehicles, drones, and robots will be connected, making the world around us smarter. The IoT will encompass devices that must wirelessly communicate a diverse set of data gathered from the environment for myriad new applications. The ultimate goal is to extract insights from this data and develop solutions that improve quality of life and generate new revenue. Providing large-scale, long-lasting, reliable, and near real-time connectivity is the major challenge in enabling a smart connected world. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on existing and emerging communication solutions for serving IoT applications in the context of cellular, wide-area, as well as non-terrestrial networks. Specifically, wireless technology enhancements for providing IoT access in fifth-generation (5G) and beyond cellular networks, and communication networks over the unlicensed spectrum are presented. Aligned with the main key performance indicators of 5G and beyond 5G networks, we investigate solutions and standards that enable energy efficiency, reliability, low latency, and scalability (connection density) of current and future IoT networks. The solutions include grant-free access and channel coding for short-packet communications, non-orthogonal multiple access, and on-device intelligence. Further, a vision of new paradigm shifts in communication networks in the 2030s is provided, and the integration of the associated new technologies like artificial intelligence, non-terrestrial networks, and new spectra is elaborated. Finally, future research directions toward beyond 5G IoT networks are pointed out.Comment: Submitted for review to IEEE CS&

Optimizing resource allocation in eh-enabled internet of things

Internet of Things (IoT) aims to bridge everyday physical objects via the Internet. Traditional energy-constrained wireless devices are powered by fixed energy sources like batteries, but they may require frequent battery replacements or recharging. Wireless Energy Harvesting (EH), as a promising solution, can potentially eliminate the need of recharging or replacing the batteries. Unlike other types of green energy sources, wireless EH does not depend on nature and is thus a reliable source of energy for charging devices. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of IoT devices and wireless applications is likely to demand for more operating frequency bands. Although the frequency spectrum is currently scarce, owing to inefficient conventional regulatory policies, a considerable amount of the radio spectrum is greatly underutilized. Cognitive radio (CR) can be exploited to mitigate the spectrum scarcity problem of IoT applications by leveraging the spectrum holes. Therefore, transforming the IoT network into a cognitive based IoT network is essential to utilizing the available spectrum opportunistically. To address the two aforementioned issues, a novel model is proposed to leverage wireless EH and CR for IoT. In particular, the sum rate of users is maximized for a CR-based IoT network enabled with wireless EH. Users operate in a time switching fashion, and each time slot is partitioned into three non-overlapping parts devoted for EH, spectrum sensing and data transmission. There is a trade-off among the lengths of these three operations and thus the time slot structure is to be optimized. The general problem of joint resource allocation and EH optimization is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear programming task which is NP-hard and intractable. Therefore, a sub-channel allocation scheme is first proposed to approximately satisfy users rate requirements and remove the integer constraints. In the second step, the general optimization problem is reduced to a convex optimization task. Another optimization framework is also designed to capture a fundamental tradeoff between energy efficiency (EE) and spectral efficiency for an EH-enabled IoT network. In particular, an EE maximization problem is formulated by taking into consideration of user buffer occupancy, data rate fairness, energy causality constraints and interference constraints. Then, a low complexity heuristic algorithm is proposed to solve the resource allocation and EE optimization problem. The proposed algorithm is shown to be capable of achieving a near optimal solution with polynomial complexity. To support Machine Type Communications (MTC) in next generation mobile networks, NarrowBand-IoT (NB-IoT) has emerged as a promising solution to provide extended coverage and low energy consumption for low cost MTC devices. However, the existing orthogonal multiple access scheme in NB-IoT cannot provide connectivity for a massive number of MTC devices. In parallel with the development of NB-IoT, Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), introduced for the fifth generation wireless networks, is deemed to significantly improve the network capacity by providing massive connectivity through sharing the same spectral resources. To leverage NOMA in the context of NB-IoT, a power domain NOMA scheme is proposed with user clustering for an NB-IoT system. In particular, the MTC devices are assigned to different ranks within the NOMA clusters where they transmit over the same frequency resources. Then, an optimization problem is formulated to maximize the total throughput of the network by optimizing the resource allocation of MTC devices and NOMA clustering while satisfying the transmission power and quality of service requirements. Furthermore, an efficient heuristic algorithm is designed to solve the proposed optimization problem by jointly optimizing NOMA clustering and resource allocation of MTC devices

Towards Massive Machine Type Communications in Ultra-Dense Cellular IoT Networks: Current Issues and Machine Learning-Assisted Solutions

The ever-increasing number of resource-constrained Machine-Type Communication (MTC) devices is leading to the critical challenge of fulfilling diverse communication requirements in dynamic and ultra-dense wireless environments. Among different application scenarios that the upcoming 5G and beyond cellular networks are expected to support, such as eMBB, mMTC and URLLC, mMTC brings the unique technical challenge of supporting a huge number of MTC devices, which is the main focus of this paper. The related challenges include QoS provisioning, handling highly dynamic and sporadic MTC traffic, huge signalling overhead and Radio Access Network (RAN) congestion. In this regard, this paper aims to identify and analyze the involved technical issues, to review recent advances, to highlight potential solutions and to propose new research directions. First, starting with an overview of mMTC features and QoS provisioning issues, we present the key enablers for mMTC in cellular networks. Along with the highlights on the inefficiency of the legacy Random Access (RA) procedure in the mMTC scenario, we then present the key features and channel access mechanisms in the emerging cellular IoT standards, namely, LTE-M and NB-IoT. Subsequently, we present a framework for the performance analysis of transmission scheduling with the QoS support along with the issues involved in short data packet transmission. Next, we provide a detailed overview of the existing and emerging solutions towards addressing RAN congestion problem, and then identify potential advantages, challenges and use cases for the applications of emerging Machine Learning (ML) techniques in ultra-dense cellular networks. Out of several ML techniques, we focus on the application of low-complexity Q-learning approach in the mMTC scenarios. Finally, we discuss some open research challenges and promising future research directions.Comment: 37 pages, 8 figures, 7 tables, submitted for a possible future publication in IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorial