Dynamic LTE resource reservation for critical M2M deployments

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications are envisioned to be major contenders for long term evolution (LTE) cellular resources in the time of fifth generation (5G) wireless communications and beyond. They will be used for a variety of applications on which users will rely for managing many aspects of their daily life. One of the promising fields in which M2M communications can play a major role is the field of emergency services. In such situations, it is crucial to ensure the reliable allocation of communication resources to M2M communications to ensure the right decisions and actions are taken in a timely manner. One of the techniques that could be used to ensure sustained and reliable resource allocation is to use an LTE-based virtual resource-slicing scheme. This scheme ensures a dynamic and an uninterrupted allocation of the resources dedicated to M2M communications in such a way that accommodates the changing needs of the emergency operations. In this paper, we introduce two schemes to allocate LTE resources to M2M emergency deployments in an adaptive manner. These schemes ensure that the resource allocation responds to the changing needs of the underlying emergency application. The adaptation period is also varied in response to the speed of change of the allocation requirements. This is done to ensure that the devices involved in critical missions are not competing for resources with the rest of network clients. We conduct several experiments to assess the success of the proposed schemes in responding to the needs of emergency M2M deployments.