Emerging Access Technologies and Open Challenges in 5G IoT: From Physical Layer Perspective

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to play a prominent role in the envisioned networked society. In IoT ecosystem, Machine Type Communication (MTC) is the access technology that ensures wireless connectivity for end-user devices to the network. Diverse IoT applications pose conflicting requirements and challenges that must be resolved to fully realize the IoT ecosystem. Although the right access technology to address all these challenges is not available yet, notable progress has been made in the recent times to address most of the key requirements. Extended Coverage (EC)-GSM-IoT and Narrow Band (NB)-IoT have been standardized by 3GPP in Release 13 as the access technologies for IoT. Among non-3GPP community, Long Range (LoRa) has attracted significant attention. In this paper, the suitability of the aforementioned access technologies to various IoT services in terms of the relevant system parameters is explored. We have also identified many system design parameters that will have adverse implications if not configured correctly for the right IoT use case. Important open challenges to be addressed from physical layer (PHY) perspective are highlighted here that will help to realize a truly connected world.