Green MTC, M2M, Internet of Things

The capability of having any type of object interconnected and Internet‐connected creates an unprecedented access and exchange of information that has been baptized as the Internet of Things (IoT). With the advancement of integrated technologies, improved batteries, and electronic miniaturization, everyday things will be equipped with sensors and microprocessors to collect information around them and execute smart applications. In addition, they will be able to communicate with each other. The IoT has the potential to revolutionize innovations; create new products, services, business; and reshape consumer's behavior. IoT represents a major player for the future of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).The development of the IoT must be environment friendly. ICT have shown to be a key contributor to global warming and environmental pollution; it is predicted that the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ICT will account for 12% of all emissions by 2020 at a growth rate of 6% per year. Therefore, it is mandatory to develop environmentally friendly ‐ or “green” ‐ technologies for the IoT, and ICT in general.Machine‐to‐Machine (M2M) communications constitute a fundamental part of the IoT. The term M2M refers to the exchange of data between two or more entities, objects, or machines that do not necessarily need human interaction. The envisioned market for such kind of communications is broader than the one traditional human‐based communications in terms of number of users and variety of applications. Some forecasts predict figures up to 50 billion machines that will be connecting to communication networks by 2020. This is a very big number compared to the entire world population of around 7 billion people. Therefore, there are some challenges that need to be addressed in order to fully supportM2Mservices in current communication networks. From the technical point of view, M2M communications are substantially different from Human‐to‐Human (H2H) communications. For example, network operators should provide communication services at low cost in order to face the low Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Despite the large number of expected M2M connections, most of them will generate very little and infrequent data traffic. Communication networks shall also provide suitable congestion and overload control solutions in order to handle a huge number of simultaneous connections. Features such as low mobility, time‐controlled data delivery, group‐based policing and addressing, low connection delays, and a wide variety of Quality of Service requirements are among other challenges that need to be addressed. All of them must have the “green” concept embedded. In order to ensure that devices can operate autonomously for years or even decades without human intervention, it is necessary to provide networks with highly efficient communication protocols. This is the main focus of this chapter.The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) created in 2009 a dedicated technical committee to identify key M2M use cases, understand the service requirements, and promote standards for the complete end‐to‐end M2M functional architecture. Later, in 2012, the global One M2M project was also established by ETSI, with other international standardization bodies, in order to define M2M standards that can accelerate the deployment and success of M2M applications.