A small cell approach to optimizing the coverage of MTC systems with massive MIMO and random access using stochastic geometry

摘要

Machine Type Communication (MTC) is a key component of future 5G networks, and its realization is now possible due to the advances in technology and the market drivers. Several challenges however exist which hinder the realization of MTC, among which signaling overhead is considered the prominent challenge, particularly due to the massive number of devices in MTC networks. In this work, we consider an MTC system which utilizes massive MIMO and cell densification to support massive number of devices. In our scheme, devices within small cells can transmit their uplink data simultaneously on the same time-frequency resource with minimal interference due to the massive MIMO implementation, and random access is applied on a per-cell basis to limit the inter-cell interference. We derive a stochastic geometry model for our system and we use it in an optimization study. Our results can be used for optimal network planning and optimal resource allocation.