Resource Efficiency in Low-Power Wide-Area Networks for IoT Applications

In this paper, we investigate the resource efficiency of uplink transmission for low-power wide-area (LPWA) networks. LoRa is adopted as an example network of focus, however the work can be easily generalized to other radios. We first formulate resource allocation in LPWA networks as a joint optimization problem of channel assignment and power allocation, with guaranteeing throughput fairness among LoRa users with limited spectrum resources, especially for the case with a large number of connected devices in LPWA networks. Specifically, we formulate channel assignment as a many-to-one matching game by treating LoRa users and channels as two sets of selfish players aiming to maximize their own utilities. We then propose a low-complexity matching channel assignment algorithm (MCAA) through distributing the channel access decision making local to LoRa users. For LoRa users assigned to the same channel, we further develop an optimal power allocation algorithm to maximize the achieved minimal transmission rate in LPWA networks. Moreover, simulation results demonstrate that the proposed MCAA can achieve near-optimal performance with much lower computational complexity.