Design and Optimization of Machine-Type Communication in LTE

Machine-to-machine (M2M) user equipments (UEs), which do not require a direct human interaction for communicating to each other, are predicted to have a large end-user market in the near future with numerous potential applications, such as home automation, patient monitoring, transportation, and smart metering. Currently, machine-type communication (MTC) is in the process of being standardized for long term evolution (LTE) cellular networks in the third generation partnership program (3GPP). The major challenges are to i) reduce the overall cost of the M2M UEs in order to enable a practical implementation of densely-deployed M2M networks, ii) enhance the coverage of uplink and downlink channels, and iii) ensure a high spectral efficiency in the presence of low-rate M2M UEs. The proposed research is based on optimizing LTE protocols in physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers, and will be part of Sierra Wireless’ ongoing activities to develop such low-cost MTC devices.

Faculty Supervisor:

Lutz Lampe

Student:

Partner:

Semtech

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Information and Communications Technology

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: