Performance of Overload Control in Machine-to-Machine Wireless Networks

The diverse applications of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication are going to lead to exponential growth in M2M traffic. Associating with M2M deployment, a massive number of devices are expected to access the wireless network concurrently. Hence, a network congestion is likely to occur. The conventional random access mechanism used in Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) networks lacks the capability of handling such an enormous number of access attempts due to the frequent collisions. Therefore, designing an efficient medium access schemes is critical for the survival of M2M networks. In this paper, we provide a scalable overload control algorithm that provides access to M2M devices in a distributed manner. Particularly, we discuss some cases of non-idealities that could occur in real situations and propose possible solutions for each case. Additionally, we propose an updated version of the algorithm that includes a traffic regulation mechanism which effectively reduces the energy consumption of the devices. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed modifications.