ABSTRACT
Cellular-based machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is expected to facilitate services for the Internet of Things (IoT). However, because cellular networks are designed for human users, they have some limitations. Random access channel (RACH) congestion caused by massive access from M2M devices is one of the biggest factors hindering cellular-based M2M services because the RACH congestion causes random access (RA) throughput degradation and connection failures to the devices. In this paper, we show the possibility exploiting the capture effects, which have been known to have a positive impact on the wireless network system, on RA procedure for improving the RA performance of M2M devices.
For this purpose, we analyze an RA procedure using a capture model. Through this analysis, we examine the effects of capture on RA performance and propose an Msg3 power-ramping (Msg3 PR) scheme to increase the capture probability (thereby increasing the RA success probability) even when severe RACH congestion problem occurs. The proposed analysis models are validated using simulations. The results show that the proposed scheme, with proper parameters, further improves the RA throughput and reduces the connection failure probability, by slightly increasing the energy consumption. Finally, we demonstrate the effects of coexistence with other RA-related schemes through simulation results.
SYSTEM MODEL
An M2M device in the radio-resource-control (RRC) idle mode performs an RA procedure to set up a connection with an eNB before data transmission. There are two types of RA procedures: contention-free and contention-based. In this study, we focus on the contention-based RA procedure. Before beginning the RA, the device listens to the system information block (SIB) messages broadcasted periodically by the eNB. The SIB messages contain information about the RA, such as the physical random access channel (PRACH) configuration index and the frequency offset, which inform about what resource blocks are reserved for the subsequent RA.
MOTIVATION AND PROPOSED SCHEME
The RACH congestion problem can be fatal for a network system and devices. As described in the RA procedure in Section 2.1, a collision occurs when multiple devices select the same preamble and send their Msg1s. Because this Msg1 collision cannot be detected by the eNB during the Msg1 reception, these devices suffer from an Msg3 collision that also wastes the PUSCH resources. Moreover, the congestion problem gets worse due to the retransmission by the RA-failed devices and can even cause a connection failure. In summary, the RACH congestion problem causes (1) degradation of the RACH throughput, (2) increased probability of connection failures, and (3) wasting of the uplink resources (PUSCH). Exploiting the capture effect positively affects the network system.
ANALYSIS MODEL
Figure 4. The power consumption model for (a) single failed RA event (b) single successful RA event
An average energy consumption model for the devices needs to be defined to analyze the energy consumption of the proposed scheme. For the energy-consumption parameters, we have partially referenced the model used. The authors assumed that an RA collision is detected by the eNB during the Msg1 reception, whereas we assumed that a collision is detected when the eNB cannot decode Msg3. Therefore, we refer to and modify the energy consumption model defined. In this study, the description of how parameters are defined is omitted. See for a detailed description of the parameters. Instead, we provide simplified description in Figure 4.
SIMULATION RESULTS
Figure 9. Connection failure probability
Figure 9, we can see that, by increasing the number of accesses, the connection failure probability increases due to severe collisions. In the conventional case, almost 70% of devices experience a connection failure when the number of arrivals surges (N = 60). The Msg3 PR scheme reduces the connection failure probability significantly. For example, under heavy access load ( N = 60 ), the connection failure probability could be reduced by approximately 42% when Msg3 PR with PRS = 3 dB is used, as compared with the conventional case. In addition, the connection failure probability of the 3 dB-case is lower than that of the 4 dB-case.
Figure 11. Cumulative distribution function (CDF) of RA results when optimal acess class barring (ACB) is used
Figure 11 illustrates the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the RA results over time when the optimal ACB is used. The ACB scheme controls the number of participants, so that the efficiency of the RACH could be maximized. Therefore, if severe congestion is predicted, it protects the RACH efficiency by blocking accesses of devices, but it does not improve RA throughput itself. As seen in Figure 11, the number of connection failed-devices is increased due to bursty arrivals if only the ACB is used.
CONCLUSIONS
RACH congestion problems resulting from massive access by the M2M devices cause severe performance degradation on both the eNB and M2M devices—for example, wasting the uplink resources such as RACH and PUSCH, and increasing the connection failure probability hindering the M2M communications. We conducted a study of the influence of the capture effect on the RA performance. It was observed that the RA performance could be improved when the Msg3 was captured by the eNB even if collision occurred.
Because the capture effect could occur when the received signal powers were differentiated by the eNB, we proposed the Msg3 PR scheme that exploited the power ramping scheme to increase the capture probability. A steady-state analysis model was provided to show the performance of the proposed scheme in terms of the RA throughput, the connection failure probability, and the average energy consumption. Numerical results of analysis and simulation results showed that the Msg3 PR scheme with proper parameters increases the RA throughput (and also increased the PUSCH efficiency), even under heavy access loads.
Moreover, the proposed scheme reduced the connection failure probability, which disturbs the M2M communications, by slightly increasing the average energy consumption. Moreover, by conducting additional simulation, we discussed the benefits of using the proposed scheme and the effects of coexistence with other RA-related technologies. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can be combined with other technologies to achieve a larger performance improvement. In future work, further optimization could be performed for RA-related technologies using the Msg3 PR scheme.
Source: Yonsei University
Authors: Jonghun Kim | Jaiyong Lee
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