Joint Random Access Channel Allocation and Load Control for Machine-to-Machine Communications in Cellular Networks

To address random access channel (RACH) congestion and high signalling overhead problems of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication in cellular networks, we propose a new design of a random access procedure that is engineered exclusively for the M2M communication. Our design has two prominent characteristics. One is a fast signaling process that allows M2M user equipments (UEs) transmit data right after preamble transmission on a physical random access channel (PRACH) to reduce the signalling overhead. The other is a self-optimization feature that allows the cellular system to produce high M2M throughput in all attempt rate scenarios by adaptively changing resource block (RB) composition and an access barring parameter according to the M2M traffic load.