On Using Relays with Carrier Aggregation for Planning 5G Networks Supporting M2M Traffic

In this paper, the joint use of carrier aggregation (CA) and relay stations (RSs) to support machine-to-machine (M2M) traffic in 5G networks is investigated. The focus of the paper is mainly on fixed M2M devices, periodically transmitting fixed amounts of data (e.g. sensor measurements). With this type of devices, knowing the deployment density in a given area allows to plan the cellular network accordingly, by determining the number of needed RSs, and the number of wireless channels that should be used by each RS to schedule M2M transmissions. Thus, after presenting an LTE resource allocation algorithm suitable for the investigated M2M devices, numerical evaluations are presented to determine the number of M2M devices that can be served given the available bandwidth. Then, a detailed analysis is presented to determine the number of RSs required depending on the M2M device density, the use of CA, and frequency reuse.