Data Aggregation and Packet Bundling of Uplink Small Packets for Monitoring Applications in LTE

TL;DR

This paper explores how data aggregation and packet bundling at aggregators can improve uplink efficiency for small packets in LTE-based massive Machine-Type Communications, balancing congestion and resource use.

Contribution

It analyzes deployment scenarios with aggregators, studying packet bundling effects and optimal network parameters to enhance uplink performance in LTE MTC.

Findings

Packet bundling reduces signaling overhead.

Optimal number of aggregators minimizes resource starvation.

Aggregation benefits uplink efficiency in LTE MTC.

Abstract

In cellular massive Machine-Type Communications (MTC), a device can transmit directly to the base station (BS) or through an aggregator (intermediate node). While direct device-BS communication has recently been in the focus of 5G/3GPP research and standardization efforts, the use of aggregators remains a less explored topic. In this paper we analyze the deployment scenarios in which aggregators can perform cellular access on behalf of multiple MTC devices. We study the effect of packet bundling at the aggregator, which alleviates overhead and resource waste when sending small packets. The aggregators give rise to a tradeoff between access congestion and resource starvation and we show that packet bundling can minimize resource starvation, especially for smaller numbers of aggregators. Under the limitations of the considered model, we investigate the optimal settings of the network parameters, in terms of number of aggregators and packet-bundle size. Our results show that, in general, data aggregation can benefit the uplink massive MTC in LTE, by reducing the signalling overhead.