Reducing the Modem Complexity and Achieving Deep Coverage in LTE for Machine-Type Communications

摘要

The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as one of the focal points in the evolution of cellular networks, and has motivated the introduction of several features that facilitate Machine-Type Communications (MTC) in LTE networks. These features serve the MTC goals of reduced User Equipment (UE) modem cost and complexity, Coverage Enhancement (CE) to support UEs in remote radio locations, and an improved battery lifetime. In this paper, we discuss the features specified in LTE Release 12 and Release 13 for reducing the UE modem cost up to 81% compared to the least expensive broadband LTE UE modem. Further, we describe the techniques specified in Release 13 for the CE of physical channels that carry data or control information. We provide link-level simulation results for the CE performance over various physical channels in terms of their error rates and per-user throughput.