Software-defined and Virtualized Cellular Networks with M2M Communications

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel framework for M2M communications in software-defined cellular networks utilizing virtualization and SDN, optimizing resource allocation and access processes through decision-theoretic methods and dynamic control.

Contribution

It proposes a new virtualization-based framework for M2M in SDN-enabled cellular networks, including a decision-theoretic optimization and dynamic resource management.

Findings

Enhanced random access performance demonstrated in simulations

Effective dynamic adjustment of resource blocks improves network efficiency

Framework supports diverse QoS requirements for M2M devices

Abstract

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications have attracted great attention from both academia and industry. In this paper, with recent advances in wireless network virtualization and software-defined networking (SDN), we propose a novel framework for M2M communications in software-defined cellular networks with wireless network virtualization. In the proposed framework, according to different functions and quality of service (QoS) requirements of machine-type communication devices (MTCDs), a hypervisor enables the virtualization of the physical M2M network, which is abstracted and sliced into multiple virtual M2M networks. Moreover, we formulate a decision-theoretic approach to optimize the random access process of M2M communications. In addition, we develop a feedback and control loop to dynamically adjust the number of resource blocks (RBs) that are used in the random access phase in a virtual M2M network by the SDN controller. Extensive simulation results with different system parameters are presented to show the performance of the proposed scheme.