Effects of LTE Random Access Methods on Healthcare M2M Applications

Abstract

In recent years, the communication between machines, known as Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, has become a dynamic research area. M2M refers to networks, which connect devices together and enable them to make a smart decision. The most viable option of implementing M2M communication is over the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. A key challenge for M2M communication over the Long Term Evolution (LTE) is the performance of Random Access Channel (RACH) because its operation was not designed with the enormous number of M2M devices in mind. To deal with the situation reduces network access success rate, several major access control methods were adopted. However, the suggested methods generally increase the access success rate regardless of delay requirements. On the other hand, access delay is crucial for many M2M applications such as healthcare. This paper investigates the effects of LTE Random Access Methods on healthcare M2M applications when enormous number of devices are introduced. The study clearly shows that to meet the requirements for delay sensitive M2M applications, the random access (RA) resources should be very strictly and carefully allocated.