Potential of LTE for Machine-to-Machine Communication Dr. Joachim Sachs Ericsson Research
Outline Trend towards M2M communication What is the role of cellular communication Cellular M2M Communication Focus: battery-efficient LTE for sensors and meters Conclusion Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 2
Telecommunication today Global Connectivity PLACES ~0.5 B 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 2025 Source: Ericsson Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 3
Telecommunication today Personal Mobile Global Connectivity Inflection point PEOPLE PLACES 5.0 B ~0.5 B 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 2025 Source: Ericsson Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 4
Telecommunication tomorrow THINGS 50 B Networked Society Personal Mobile Global Connectivity Inflection points PEOPLE PLACES 5.0 B ~0.5 B 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 2025 Source: Ericsson Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 5
The Networked Society Machine-to-machine communication will spread into all facets of our increasingly digitized society: businesses and industries, public sectors and private lives THINGS 50 B everything that benefits from being connected will be connected PEOPLE PLACES 5.0 B ~0.5 B 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 2025 Source: Ericsson Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 6
Latency (ms) Role of cellular communication? (1) PEAK RATE >1 Gbps LATENCY The extremely high throughput of LTE enables new possibilities for M2M applications. 700 600 The extremely low latency of LTE enables new possibilities for M2M applications. 500 400 300 Mbps 300 40 Kbps 384 Kbps 14 Mbps 42 Mbps 200 100 10 ms RAN RTT GPRS 1998 WCDMA 2002 HSPA 2005 HSPA + 2009 LTE 2010 2G 3G 4G LTE-A 2014 GPRS Rel 97 EDGE Rel 99 EDGE Rel 4 WCDMA Rel 99 Evolved EDGE HSDPA HSPA LTE Capabilities to fulfill demanding requirements, not limited to personal communication 5G research is starting up (e.g. in EU METIS project) including an M2M focus on low delay, massive scalability, low energy, high reliability Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 7
Role of cellular communication? (2) Almost ubiquitous availability of connectivity Low costs for introducing new communication services Economies of scale Global markets and solutions Future proof [Source: Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2013] Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 8
M2M areas with diverse requirements Healthcare Transport & Logistics Utilities Building automation Utilities Government Security & Safety Industrial automation Meters and Sensors Sensor, actuators, meters, connected devices and things Small, simple, low-cost Low energy consumption Long-range coverage Critical Communication Distributed embedded control & cyber-physical systems High reliability and availability Low delay Autonomous operation Connecting vehicles, transport infrastructure and transport management Incl. safety-related services Low delay High mobility Transport & Logistics Intelligent Transport Systems Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 9
M2M areas with diverse requirements Healthcare Transport & Logistics Utilities Building automation Utilities Government Security & Safety Industrial automation Meters and Sensors Sensor, actuators, meters, connected devices and things Small, simple, low-cost Low energy consumption Long-range coverage Critical Communication Distributed embedded control & cyber-physical systems High reliability and availability Low delay Autonomous operation Focus of M2M-related activities in 3GPP Connecting vehicles, transport infrastructure and transport management Incl. safety-related services Low delay High mobility Transport & Logistics Intelligent Transport Systems Addressed in 5G project METIS ITG Zukunft der Netze, 2011 Automotive Communication via Mobile Broadband Networks Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 10
Sensors & Meters Use cases Building automation (temperature, light, doors, heating, ) Ambient Assisted Living personal monitor (blood pressure, pulse, ) Sensors and smart meters in the smart grid (e.g. distributed weather sensors) Goods / fleet tracking in logistics Agriculture / aquaculture sensors (irrigation, fertilization, cattle tracking, ) Smart city infrastructure monitoring (availability of parking lots, full dustbins, ) Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 11
Sensors & Meters Characteristics Typically infrequent measurements of limited size Traffic mainly in uplink (measurement reports), but downlink also possible (configuration, SW update, control) Delay-tolerant in downlink and / or uplink Stationary or mobile devices Long lasting battery operation or with power supply Constrained (cost/processing) or complex devices Potentially dense accumulation of many devices Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 12
Sensors & Meters Characteristics Theme Typically infrequent measurements of limited size Traffic mainly in uplink (measurement reports), but downlink also possible (configuration, SW update, control) Delay-tolerant in downlink and / or uplink Stationary or mobile devices Long lasting battery operation or with power supply Constrained (cost/processing) or complex devices Potentially dense accumulation of many devices Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 13
Suitability of LTE for sensors & meters (LTE Release 8) (1) Are LTE devices simple? (with regard to the defined M2M requirements) High requirements on M2M device Cost reduction of up to 80% possible (3GPP TR 36.888) by reduced UE features and performance 3GPP Rel-12 work item targeting 50% cost reduction 1 receive antenna Data rates limited to 1 Mb/s Data transmission in 1.4 MHz only Low-end UE category 1 Downlink up to 10 Mb/s (64 QAM) up to 10296 bits transport block size 2 receiver antennas and reception from up to 4 antenna ports single stream transmission Uplink up to 5 Mb/s (16 QAM) up to 5160 bits transport block size two transmit antennas Layer 2 buffer size 150 kb Source: 3GPP TS 36.306 and Dahlman et al. 2011 Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 14
Suitability of LTE for sensors & meters (LTE Release 8) (2) Are LTE devices well reachable? MTC devices may have unfavorable attenuation Basement of buildings Foil-insulated enclosures Stationary MTC devices in particular affected 3GPP TR 36.888 lists coverage improvement options for low-rate MTC devices Repetition with energy accumulation Power boosting Relaxed performance requirements Design of new channels / signals 3GPP Rel-12 work item targeting 15dB coverage extensions for MTC UEs Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 15
Suitability of LTE for sensors & meters (LTE Release 8) (3) Can LTE handle effectively huge number of M2M devices? (with regard to the defined M2M requirements) Maybe not in extreme situations? Protection in 3GPP Rel-11 Enhanced Access Barring Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 16
Suitability of LTE for sensors & meters (LTE Release 8) (4) Does LTE enable M2M devices to operate on battery for multiple years? (with regard to the defined M2M requirements) Not really Efficient LTE transmission of infrequent small data? (with regard to the defined M2M requirements) Quite some signaling involved Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 17
power consumption Low-energy transmission for MTC UEs (1) What is consuming most device energy for infrequent small data transmission? active inactive active data signaling UL DL time Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 18
power consumption Low-energy transmission for MTC UEs (1) What is consuming most device energy for infrequent small data transmission? UL DL active inactive DRX / paging cycle active data signaling paging / measurements time Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 19
power consumption Low-energy transmission for MTC UEs (1) What is consuming most device energy for infrequent small data transmission? UL DL active inactive DRX / paging cycle active data signaling paging / measurements time DRX active times dominate UE energy consumption Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 20
Low-energy transmission for MTC UEs (2) Currently maximum DRX (&paging) cycles of 2.56 s Longer DRX can reduce UE energy consumption Energy saving vs. delay trade-off for downlink data Long DRX cycle reduce the UE responsiveness to network triggers e.g. with 2.56 s DRX cycle a UE can respond on average within 1.28 s If UE is delay tolerant for downlink data, long DRX cycles can be used In uplink a UE can transmit whenever it desires no delay impact Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 22
Low-energy transmission for MTC UEs (3) Assumptions No downlink transmission Uplink transmission 1000 bytes every 12 min. 10 ms synchronisation 50 ms data transmission DRX active periods 10 ms synchronisation 10 ms reading control channel Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 23
Battery lifetime factor Energy consumption (relative) Low-energy transmission for MTC UEs (3) 25 20 15 10 5 Battery lifetime Energy consumption Energy consumption DRX 2.56 s Battery life 2.8 months Avg. DL response 1.28 s DRX 384 s Battery life 67.2 months Avg. DL response ~3 min 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 Assumptions No downlink transmission Uplink transmission 1000 bytes every 12 min. 10 ms synchronisation 50 ms data transmission DRX active periods 10 ms synchronisation 10 ms reading control channel 0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 0 DRX cycle length (s) Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 24 Source: Tirronen et al. 2012 & 2013 AAA battery 6.5 kj
Optimized transmission for small data (1) Can we simplify the transmission procedures for small data transmission? Connection / bearer setup and tear-down for every data transfer small data server Connection and security setup Connection release Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 25
Optimized transmission for small data (2) Investigation on optimizations is currently ongoing in 3GPP E.g. keep UE in RRC_CONNECTED state with long sleep (DRX) cycles E.g. simplified bearer handling and lightweight connection setup keep UE RRC_CONNECTED keep UE RRC_CONNECTED Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 26
Optimized transmission for small data (3) can prolong the battery life time by up to 36 % Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 27
Summary Machine-to-machine communication is a major new trend in wireless communication Cellular communication will play a strong role (capabilities, availability, global market) Optimization of cellular communication is possible for M2M Consider new system requirements 3GPP work is ongoing for Reduced UE modem costs (for simple M2M devices) Battery saving and signaling reductions for infrequent transmission of small data transmissions Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 28
References J. Sachs, A. Wallen, Machine-to-machine communication with LTE, tutorial, IEEE Communication Theory Workshop Sweden, Oct. 2012. T. Tirronen, A. Larmo, J. Sachs, B. Lindoff, N. Wiberg, Machine-to-machine communication with long-term evolution with reduced device energy consumption, Trans Emerging Tel Tech, 2013 Erik Dahlman, Stefan Parkvall, Johan Sköld, 4G LTE/LTE-Advanced for Mobile Broadband, Academic Press, 2011 T. Tirronen, A. Larmo, J. Sachs, B. Lindoff, N. Wiberg, Reducing energy consumption of LTE devices for machine-tomachine communication, IEEE Globecom 2012 D. Astely, E. Dahlman, G. Fodor, S. Parkvall, J. Sachs, LTE Release 12 and Beyond, IEEE Communications Magazine, July 2013 J. Sachs, Automotive Communication via Mobile Broadband Networks, ITG Zukunft der Netze, 2011. M. Phan, R. Rembarz, S. Sories: 'A Capacity Analysis for the Transmission of Event and Cooperative Awareness Messages in LTE Networks', ITS World Congress 2011, Orlando, Florida, October 2011 3GPP TR 36.888, Study on provision of low-cost Machine-Type Communications (MTC) User Equipments (UEs) based on LTE 3GPP Rel-12 Work Item, Low cost & enhanced coverage MTC UE for LTE, http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/tsg_ran/tsg_ran/tsgr_60/docs/rp-130848.zip 3GPP TR 23.887, Architectural Enhancements for Machine Type and other mobile data applications Communications Joachim Sachs ITG Zukunft der Netze 2013, 2013-09-20 Ericsson AB 2013 2013-09-20 Page 29