ISSUE 05 2014
M2M NETWORKS
27
M
achine-to-machine (M2M), particularly over LTE, networks is one of the hottest topics in the communication industry today. Beyond the buzz, telecom network planners are scrambling
to figure out how their networks, which have only supported subscribers’ voice and data communications until now, will support the operational side of M2M.
However, before M2M delivers on the great opportunities for CSPs to generate significant revenue streams, vast initial investments are required and huge technical challenges have to be overcome on an unprecedented scale. Unlike existing networks, which typically host a few million or tens of millions of subscribers, M2M requires building and architecting networks to support billions of ‘subscribers’, or rather every connected machine. Above the quantity of connections, what is most significant is the vastly different signalling behaviour exhibited by these devices as opposed to devices operated by humans. Signalling in LTE is predominantly based on Diameter protocol, a fairly new protocol that was designed to support data transmission. As it has few commonalities with its predecessor, SS7, few network planners have the knowledge required to configure and dimension it to support M2M in LTE. However, failure to configure the LTE network properly around this unprecedented level of Diameter messages generated by the multitudes of devices can cause serious service disruptions.
There are many differences between signalling in M2M networks and traditional subscriber-based mobile LTE networks. Although both are based primarily on Diameter protocol from a signalling perspective, and both comply with the same 3GPP standards, this is where the similarities end and the differences begin:
With signalling already growing today in LTE networks at three times the speed of data according to many market analysts, the leap in scale of signalling volume represents a challenge never yet encountered by CSPs
1. Signalling volume When we refer to M2M networks, we are discussing a network approximately 10 times larger than LTE in terms of subscriber/ terminal size. With signalling already growing today in LTE networks at three times the speed of data according to many market analysts, the leap in scale of signalling volume represents a challenge never yet encountered by CSPs. The industry standard bodies have recognised this challenge and are working towards defining a framework around how to manage and prioritise the different M2M signalling behaviour priorities in both typical usage, as well as the unexpected. 3G networks were built around voice and data. Machine-to- machine networks do not include voice and will hardly use data as little information is exchanged over these short-lived M2M sessions (there will be metering, alerts and warnings, but machines rarely browse on the Internet). In other words, M2M networks are putting much more stress on the signalling infrastructure than on the data plane infrastructure. We foresee there will be two to three times more signalling in M2M networks compared to ‘regular human’ LTE networks. When added to the already high LTE signalling volume and the scale of subscribers/terminals there is an unprecedented quantity of signalling that requires smart decisions. You need to prioritise every probable use case for both typical and unexpected events in the network – for example when certain network elements go down and many connections need to be re- established once the network is back again.
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