Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging domain that promises ubiquitous connection to the Internet, turning common objects into connected devices. The IoT paradigm is changing the way people interact with things around them. It paves the way for creating pervasively connected infrastructures to support innovative services and promises better flexibility and efficiency. Such advantages are attractive not only for consumer applications, but also for the industrial domain. Over the last few years, we have been witnessing the IoT paradigm making its way into the industry marketplace with purposely designed solutions. In this paper, we clarify the concepts of IoT, Industrial IoT, and Industry 4.0. We highlight the opportunities brought in by this paradigm shift as well as the challenges for its realization. In particular, we focus on the challenges associated with the need of energy efficiency, real-time performance, coexistence, interoperability, and security and privacy. We also provide a systematic overview of the state-of-the-art research efforts and potential research directions to solve Industrial IoT challenges.

Industrial Internet of Things: Challenges, Opportunities, and Directions

The use of flying platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), popularly known as drones, is rapidly growing. In particular, with their inherent attributes such as mobility, flexibility, and adaptive altitude, UAVs admit several key potential applications in wireless systems. On the one hand, UAVs can be used as aerial base stations to enhance coverage, capacity, reliability, and energy efficiency of wireless networks. On the other hand, UAVs can operate as flying mobile terminals within a cellular network. Such cellular-connected UAVs can enable several applications ranging from real-time video streaming to item delivery. In this paper, a comprehensive tutorial on the potential benefits and applications of UAVs in wireless communications is presented. Moreover, the important challenges and the fundamental tradeoffs in UAV-enabled wireless networks are thoroughly investigated. In particular, the key UAV challenges such as 3D deployment, performance analysis, channel modeling, and energy efficiency are explored along with representative results. Then, open problems and potential research directions pertaining to UAV communications are introduced. Finally, various analytical frameworks and mathematical tools, such as optimization theory, machine learning, stochastic geometry, transport theory, and game theory are described. The use of such tools for addressing unique UAV problems is also presented. In a nutshell, this tutorial provides key guidelines on how to analyze, optimize, and design UAV-based wireless communication systems.

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A Tutorial on UAVs for Wireless Networks: Applications, Challenges, and Open Problems

Low power wide area (LPWA) networks are attracting a lot of attention primarily because of their ability to offer affordable connectivity to the low-power devices distributed over very large geographical areas. In realizing the vision of the Internet of Things, LPWA technologies complement and sometimes supersede the conventional cellular and short range wireless technologies in performance for various emerging smart city and machine-to-machine applications. This review paper presents the design goals and the techniques, which different LPWA technologies exploit to offer wide-area coverage to low-power devices at the expense of low data rates. We survey several emerging LPWA technologies and the standardization activities carried out by different standards development organizations (e.g., IEEE, IETF, 3GPP, ETSI) as well as the industrial consortia built around individual LPWA technologies (e.g., LoRa Alliance, Weightless-SIG, and Dash7 alliance). We further note that LPWA technologies adopt similar approaches, thus sharing similar limitations and challenges. This paper expands on these research challenges and identifies potential directions to address them. While the proprietary LPWA technologies are already hitting the market with large nationwide roll-outs, this paper encourages an active engagement of the research community in solving problems that will shape the connectivity of tens of billions of devices in the next decade.

Low Power Wide Area Networks: An Overview

Single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC FDMA), a modified form of orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), is a promising technique for high data rate uplink communications in future cellular systems. SC-FDMA has similar throughput performance and essentially the same overall complexity as OFDMA. A principal advantage of SC-FDMA is the peak-to-average power ratio (PARR), which is lower than that of OFDMA. SC FDMA is currently a strong candidate for the uplink multiple access scheme in the long term evolution of cellular systems under consideration by the third generation partnership project (3GPP). In this paper, we give an overview of SC-FDMA. We also analyze the effects of subcarrier mapping on throughput and PARR. Among the possible subcarrier mapping approaches, we find that localized FDMA (LFDMA) with channel-dependent scheduling (CDS) results in higher throughput than interleaved FDMA (JFDMA). However, the PARR performance of IFDMA is better than that of LFDMA. As in other communications systems there are complex tradeoffs between design parameters and performance in an SC-FDMA system

Single carrier FDMA for uplink wireless transmission

The IoT paradigm holds the promise to revolutionize the way we live and work by means of a wealth of new services, based on seamless interactions between a large amount of heterogeneous devices. After decades of conceptual inception of the IoT, in recent years a large variety of communication technologies has gradually emerged, reflecting a large diversity of application domains and of communication requirements. Such heterogeneity and fragmentation of the connectivity landscape is currently hampering the full realization of the IoT vision, by posing several complex integration challenges. In this context, the advent of 5G cellular systems, with the availability of a connectivity technology, which is at once truly ubiquitous, reliable, scalable, and cost-efficient, is considered as a potentially key driver for the yet-to emerge global IoT. In the present paper, we analyze in detail the potential of 5G technologies for the IoT, by considering both the technological and standardization aspects. We review the present-day IoT connectivity landscape, as well as the main 5G enablers for the IoT. Last but not least, we illustrate the massive business shifts that a tight link between IoT and 5G may cause in the operator and vendors ecosystem.

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Internet of Things in the 5G Era: Enablers, Architecture, and Business Models

Factory automation is one of the challenging use cases that the fifth generation, 5G, networks are expected to support. It involves mission-critical machine-type communications, MTC, with requirements of extreme low-latency and ultra-reliable communication to enable real-time control of automation processes in manufacturing facilities. In this paper, we discuss the deployment strategies for the 5G mission-critical MTC solution designed to meet the needs of factory automation applications. The paper analyzes the coverage and capacity aspects based on a series of system-level evaluations considering both noise-limited and interference- limited operations. It further analyzes the related trade-offs to provide insights on the network deployment strategies for a realistic factory scenario.

Deployment Strategies for Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication in Factory Automation

A method for use in a cellular system with a controlling node and user terminals, UEs. In the system, UEs can assume one of at least two states, a non-listening state, i.e. a state during which a UE does not listen for data from its controlling node, and a listening state, an “on duration” state. According to the method a UE in the system is able to alternate between said two states according to a certain scheme, the scheme according to which a UE in the system alternates between said two states being dependent on whether or not data units which are transmitted between the UE and its controlling node are received entirely and correctly within an initially allocated resource for each data unit.

A method and a device for saving power in a wireless user terminal

A telecommunications device comprises a transceiver (33); a radio link control entity (50); and, a radio link control (RLC) buffer memory (150). The transceiver (33) which enables the device to communicate over an air interface (32). The radio link control entity (50) forms uplink RLC protocol data units (PDUs) for transmission over the air interface (32) and receives downlink RLC protocol data units (PDUs) over the air interface (32). The radio link control (RLC) buffer memory (150) is configured to include a transmitter buffer for storing the uplink RLC protocol data units (PDUs) and a receiver buffer for storing the downlink RLC protocol data units (PDUs). The radio link control entity includes RLC reconfiguration logic means (200) which reconfigures at least one of a size of a transmitter buffer window and a size of a receiver buffer window. In performing the reconfiguration, the RLC reconfiguration logic means implements a strategy for handling at least one of (1) downlink RLC protocol data units (PDUs) which are outside a new receiver buffer window; and (2) uplink RLC protocol data units (PDUs) which are either outside a new transmitter window or whose receipt by the radio access network has not been positively acknowledged.

RLC window size reconfiguration

In a radio or wireless access network (10). packets to be transmitted to a mobile radio (40) are broadcast over a transport network (32) to a set of associated radio access points (38). where each set of associated radio access points corresponds to a broadcast group. Each access point monitors packets broadcast to it broadcast group to determine if the access point should retrieve the packet. Rather than establishing packet tunnels to specific access points to transport packets to be transmitted to a mobile station through a transport network, those packets simply are broadcast over the transport network to the relevant broadcast group(s). Select diversity may be used where the mobile selects which access point transmits a particular packet to the mobile station. Alternatively., the network may decide which access point transmits a particular packet to the mobile station. This approach greatly facilitates cost-efficient and fast handovers of a mobile connection between access points in a wireless network.

Broadcast-based communication in a radio or wireless access network to support mobility

The present invention provides a stall avoidance mechanism that may be used alone or in conjunction with an ambiguity avoidance mechanism in an ARQ protocol. Both mechanisms decrease data delays and increase data throughput rates. Stall avoidance is accomplished by determining whether a stall condition exists with respect to receiving a missing data unit. In one example, only a single timer is needed to avoid stalls. Retransmission ambiguities may be avoided using a retransmission window in the transmitter and/or a receive window in the receiver. Although each mechanism may be used independently of the other, a preferred example embodiment uses a stall avoidance timer, a retransmission window in the transmitter, and a receive window in the receiver.

Johan Torsner

Papers

Deployment Strategies for Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication in Factory Automation

A method and a device for saving power in a wireless user terminal

RLC window size reconfiguration

Broadcast-based communication in a radio or wireless access network to support mobility

Avoiding stall conditions and sequence number ambiguity in an automatic repeat request protocol