Sub 1GHz M2M communications standardization: The advancement in white space utilization for enhancing the energy efficiency

Energy efficiency of machine to machine (M2M) communications terminals is one of the major design goals of M2M networks, resulting from anticipated over 50 billion M2M communications devices to be deployed into the networks by 2020 [1]. The stakeholders in the M2M communications have observed that it will be environmental and economic catastrophic to deploy M2M communications devices without solving the energy inefficiencies associated with wireless devices that are expected to be used for M2M communications. In view of the aforementioned energy challenge, sub 1GHz spectra have provided enormous opportunities that can be energy efficient, cost effective and coverage efficiency which can be utilized for M2M communications. This work will evaluate the energy efficiency benefits of optimized Sub 1GHz spectra for M2M communications

Reliable Reporting for Massive M2M Communications with Periodic Resource Pooling

This letter considers a wireless M2M communication scenario with a massive number of M2M devices. Each device needs to send its reports within a given deadline and with certain reliability, e. g. 99.99%. A pool of resources available to all M2M devices is periodically available for transmission. The number of transmissions required by an M2M device within the pool is random due to two reasons - random number of arrived reports since the last reporting opportunity and requests for retransmission due to random channel errors. We show how to dimension the pool of M2M-dedicated resources in order to guarantee the desired reliability of the report delivery within the deadline. The fact that the pool of resources is used by a massive number of devices allows to base the dimensioning on the central limit theorem. The results are interpreted in the context of LTE, but they are applicable to any M2M communication system.Comment: Submitted to journa

Probabilistic Rateless Multiple Access for Machine-to-Machine Communication

Future machine to machine (M2M) communications need to support a massive number of devices communicating with each other with little or no human intervention. Random access techniques were originally proposed to enable M2M multiple access, but suffer from severe congestion and access delay in an M2M system with a large number of devices. In this paper, we propose a novel multiple access scheme for M2M communications based on the capacity-approaching analog fountain code to efficiently minimize the access delay and satisfy the delay requirement for each device. This is achieved by allowing M2M devices to transmit at the same time on the same channel in an optimal probabilistic manner based on their individual delay requirements. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves a near optimal rate performance and at the same time guarantees the delay requirements of the devices. We further propose a simple random access strategy and characterized the required overhead. Simulation results show the proposed approach significantly outperforms the existing random access schemes currently used in long term evolution advanced (LTE-A) standard in terms of the access delay.Comment: Accepted to Publish in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communication

External Evaluation and Cost-Benefit Analysis of mothers2mothers' Mentor Mother Programme in Uganda

This external evaluation examines whether the core component of m2m's Mentor Mother Model -- peer education an psychosocial support services -- improves the uptake of Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services, as wel as the health and wellbeing of mothers and their infants. It also investigates the cost-benefit of scaling up the Mentor Mother Model nationally in Uganda. To determine this, the study examines the differences in mother and infant uptake of PMTC services and health outcomes, as well as women's psychosocial wellbeing at m2m-supported health facilities compared to similar facilities with no m2m presence (the control sites).The study was conducted across 62 health facilities divided into two groups: 31 intervention sites (with an m2m presence) and 31 control sites (without m2m presence). Approximately 1,150 mother-baby pair records of clients who received PMTCT services between January 2011 and March 2014 were reviewed in each group. Additionally, approximately 400 PMTCT clients in each group who received PMTCT services between June 2012 and March 2014 participated in a survey measuring their psychosocial wellbeing