Scalable group-based machine-to-machine communications in LTE-advanced networks

The legacy long term evolution (LTE) networks suffer from scalability problems when a massive number of Internet of Things devices enter the network simultaneously. In this paper, we investigate the root causes of the overload problems due to a massive number of machine devices when accessing to the LTE network, and evaluate current standardized solutions of 3GPP in terms of overload aspects. As a result, we derive the limitations of 3GPP standardized solutions, and then suggest a novel group-based communication method and a set of required functions for the group-based communication. The simulation results show that our proposed group-based communication dramatically decreases the signaling load when compared to the legacy LTE and other 3GPP solutions.