M2M Traffic Characteristics : When machines participate in communication

Abstract: Machine-to-machine, machine-to-man, or man-to-machine (M2M) communications is expected to grow very rapidly over the next few years with an anticipated 50 billion devices being connected to broadband connections by 2020 [35]. To be able to plan and dimension for the expected (increase) in data traffic it is important to have a model for the traffic that will flow through the network. A concept often talked about in conjunction with M2M communications is the “Internet of things”, where billions of “smart” objects are connected to the Internet and can be easily shared and used or re-used by many applications. One sub-field of M2M communications is sensor/actuator networks that are installed in households, creating automated homes by enabling home appliances to talk to each other and to applications that can be running on hosts connected to the Internet. Such sensor/actuator networks extend the uses of home appliances into completely new and exciting applications, while also potentially making homes more energy efficient by smarter management and operation of these appliances. The thesis was proposed by and carried out at Ericsson in Kista, Sweden during the summer and fall of 2009. The academic advisor was G. Q. Maguire Jr. of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and industrial advisor was Per Ljungberg at Ericsson. This thesis has an industrial focus, specifically to produce models and prototypes that benefit Ericsson as a company and the Ericsson Connected Home project. This thesis has evaluated the available standards and designed, buildt, and evaluated a prototype application for one of these standards to operate with this home gateway. Additionally, the thesis should also benefit the academic world by offering tractable models for M2M traffic that have a foundation in reality, rather than solutions in search of a problem.