A Study of Bayesian Scheduling for M2M traffic in
wireless LTE network
Khoo Siew Kay Wee Kuok Kwee
Multimedia University Multimedia University
Melaka, Malaysia Melaka, Malaysia
1141600083@student.mmu.edu.my wee.kuok.kwee@mmu.edu.my
Abstract—In the event of phenomenal growth in Internet of
Things (IoT), Machine-to-Machine (M2M) devices are projected
to reach figure of multiple billions in foreseeable future.
Operators around the world are aggressively refarming their
spectrum from older network and moving quickly to Long Term
Evolution (LTE) for guarantee of future-proof services. With
every new M2M application being invented or deployed at this
pace, unprecedented factors are unceasingly induced to existing
LTE protocols which caused undesirable performance
degradation. In this paper, a realistic LTE network environment
are modelled and simulated with tractable M2M traffic modules
to observe such impacts on conventional scheduling schemes and
to identify the major causes. A prominent conventional Bayesian
approach is hence adopted for revision to adapt the new M2M
traffics. The results obtained shown that the proposed M2M-
enabled True Bayesian Estimate (TBE-M) algorithm is capable of
outperforming the conventional TBE on a great scale.
Keywords—LTE; wireless; Internet of things; machine-to-
machine communications; QoS; scheduling
I. INTRODUCTION
In order for Internet of Things (IoT) to really take off in the
coming decade, truly ubiquitous and massive peer-to-peer
communications are the prerequisites in the future network.
Long Term Evolution (LTE) cell technology is in fact a windfall
for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication’s promising
future with its outstanding bandwidth provision assuring
‘everything connected to everything’ being possible. The
average data rate in current 4G standards is already 5 to 10 times
faster than of its predecessor 3G [1], allowing IoT traffics
scaling to large sizes and relentless exchange of data. Higher
capacity with expanded connectivity are to be anticipated in the
next-generation network, 5G. According to reliable forecasts,
more than 50 billion of M2M devices are anticipated in next
decade [2] where M2M device is the general term used to refer
to all automated hardware (i.e. sensors and actuators) that form
part of an IoT system. These devices are specialized to practice
M2M communication, a new type of communication which is
the hallmark of IoT in order to realize the idealistic automation.
A notable technical difference in these communications is the
absolute absence of human intervention, which particularly
contradicts to the traditional network traffics, known as Human-
to-Human (H2H) communication. M2M in this regard is deemed
to be considerably distinctive from the conventional point of
view and has given rise to growing concerns about LTE
scheduler’s efficacy.
Ooi Shih Yin
Multimedia University
Melaka, Malysia
syooi@mmu.edu.my
IoT is a relatively broad topic in which its application
domain could range from smart metering, asset tracking, health
monitoring, auto piloting to surveillance camera and many more
to date. This vast diversity nature in IoT applications eventually
complicate M2M traffic further with unpredictable and self-
dissimilar behavior [2]. Although they are often characterized
by small data packets, time-controlled transmission, group-
based or synchronized access and have higher tendency of being
delay-tolerant, well-defined and precise M2M identification is
not feasible considering new applications are being invented or
deployed at almost daily. In a general view, there are more than
150 device M2M models classified and designated into 6 generic
categories up to the present day, namely Asset Tracking,
Building Security, Fleet, Modem, Metering and Telehealth [3].
With disparate backgrounds, M2M application usually requires
high level of customization entailing different data content, data
format, operating system, Quality of Service (QoS) requirement,
transmission interval and so on. Such permutations in terms of
configuration are nearly illimitable and practically unpredictable
by the network.
To meet LTE’s enlisted technical criteria under aforesaid
disruptions from voluminous M2M interactions, packet
scheduling protocols are to be improvised or reinvented from
present intelligence amongst conventional scheduling
algorithms to envision for newer traffic trend. In other words,
parameters of traditional scheduling algorithms can be
strategically manipulated to extend its coverage to M2M
communications. As majority have been making much of uplink
measures due to M2M uplink tendency, fewer efforts note the
analogous importance for downlink preparation. In this paper,
an enhanced real-time Bayesian bandwidth resource allocation
mechanism is proposed to address the complex uncertainty
issues induced in line by the presence of massive M2M traffics
in LTE downlink.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section
II gives an overview of literature studies relevant to M2M
scheduling and Bayesian strategies over LTE. Section III
presents the concept of proposed M2M-enabled Bayesian
scheduling scheme. Section IV lists the simulation setup and
discuss the numerical results obtained. Section V concludes the
paper.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
A. M2M-aware LTE
As M2M communication is aggressively gaining
grounds in LTE scope, more literatures have suggested
 preemptive measures to ensure LTE is M2M-aware. The
first approach is through handling of random access
congestion crisis at the medium access control (MAC) layer.
The authors in [4] have proposed a novel context-aware
scheme, conjoins with an overload detection mechanism to
address synchronized accesses from massive M2M nodes.
As the scheme is fully oriented to overload circumstances,
accommodation is lacking in behalf of baseline congestion.
Although a latter effort [5] has supplemented this issue with
a dynamic protocol that adapts to real-time congestion
intensity, hindrance of M2M nodes to the primary H2H
traffics remains unattended in the consequent resource
allocation phase.
To address the high signaling overhead problems in
M2M communication, another alternative is described in [6]
to aggregate small M2M data packets before transmission
to reduce individual signaling costs. A major drawback is
all transmissions including delay-sensitive traffics are
subjected to a predefined minimum waiting time buffer
without guarantee of subsequent incoming traffic. The
method is less efficient as a packet that is late to a buffer
time window for a split second has to queue in the
consecutive round which may delay the packet severely.
LTE’s resource allocation procedure in this regard is
another popular area of interest in many literatures. A fixed
and dynamic time-controlled scheme are proposed in [7]
and [8] to alternately multiplex M2M and H2H traffics in an
OFDMA frame. The downside to this scheme is the bias
against M2M where M2M traffics are treated conditionally
when there is occupancy in frame after H2H usage.
Consequently, delay-sensitive M2M traffics may be
overlooked and have high tendency to fail their latency
requirements.
B. Bayesian Techniques
Disparities between M2M applications from diverse
domains have given rise to a considerably amount of
unprecedented factors in LTE network. Bayesian methods,
renowned for quantification of real-world uncertainties
across vast fields, is a sound technique in this respect. A
prominent practical application can be found in a
recognized web application named Internet Movie Database
(IMDb), in which it adopts the Bayesian Estimator as an
approach to rate and rank its top-250 movies [9].
Application of Bayesian is a norm in wireless network
literatures, such as distributed resource allocation [10],
mobility prediction [11], relay selection [12] and so on. In
LTE’s interest, novel Bayesian-based scheduling schemes
are being developed in recent contributions [13][14] to
improve the QoS of conventional real-time H2H traffics.
III. M2M-ENABLED BAYESIAN SCHEDULING SCHEME
The proposed scheme takes after a traditional Bayesian
scheduling approach named True Bayesian Estimate (TBE).
Although this scheme is oblivious to M2M’s presence, the
Bayesian equation can be straightforwardly reengineer to
incorporate M2M in scheduling decision making. Equation (1)
shows Bayesian Estimator in practical use, which gives a ‘true
Bayesian estimate’.
ୖ௩ାେ௠
ൌ (1)
௩ା௠
Where:
W = weight for observed data
R = average value for observed data
‫ = ݒ‬number of samples for observed data
݉ = weight given to the prior estimate
C = mean rating across the whole pool
TBE is a realistic rating strategy derived from Bayes
Estimator to handle large and complex field with multitudinous
parameters and is substantially reliable for simultaneous user
background herein. The weighting vectors, ‫ ݒ‬and ݉ are used to
balance W between variables R and C. As ‫ ݒ‬approaches zero,
W will be less affected by R as the product value of R ‫ݒ‬
diminishes and vice versa. The proposed algorithm, TBE-M is
derived from TBE is as seen in Equation (2).
ሺୟ୴ୣ୰ୟ୥ୣ୰ୣୟ୪ି୲୧୫ୣୢୣ୪ୟ୷ሻሺ୲୭୲ୟ୪୰ୣୟ୪ି୲୧୫ୣୢୣ୪ୟ୷ሻ
ൌ
ାሺୟ୴ୟ୧୪ୟୠ୪ୣୠୟ୬ୢ୵୧ୢ୲୦ሻሺୟ୴ୣ୰ୟ୥ୣୟ୰୰୧୴ୟ୪ୢୣ୴୧ୟ୬ୡୣሻ
(2)
୲୭୲ୟ୪୰ୣୟ୪ି୲୧୫ୣୢୣ୪ୟ୷ାୟ୴ୣ୰ୟ୥ୣୟ୰୰୧୴ୟ୪ୢୣ୴୧ୟ୬ୡୣ
Inherited from the base algorithm, preliminary QoS
parameters are retained in R‫ ݒ‬to preserve its ability to penalize
traffic’s delay requirements in real time. Another contemporary
parameter, average arrival deviance is derived and substituted
at ݉ to gauge the traffic’s arrival behavior against remaining
available bandwidth. This deviance is a measure of traffic’s
periodicity where traffics are weighted based on degree of
deviation from their average arrival interval throughout the
timeline. That being the case, periodic traffics tend to have
consistently low values while non-periodic traffics gain their
values in various degrees. Hence, with respect to the remaining
bandwidth, periodic traffics generally gain less share and non-
periodic traffics are given more resources as they deviates
more. The final TBE-M weight is then computed as the
resultant optimal point from both QoS and arrival deviance
aspects.
IV. SIMULATION AND RESULTS
To simulate a realistic LTE downlink environment, a
dedicated open source network simulator LTE-Sim is utilized in
this work. A single-cell scenario with interference is deployed
via this simulator to model the one-to-many relationship of
packet scheduling procedure between single base station,
eNodeB and multiple User Equipment (UE). Hybrid network of
two UE categories are considered in this scenario: H2H UE and
M2M UE. M2M traffic arrivals are Poisson distributed with its
composition as follow: regular periodic (51%), regular non-
periodic (33%), group periodic (14%) and group non-periodic
(2%) [3]. These M2M UEs are configured for random
positioning from time to time to resemble actual automated
mobile, drones or wearable devices while its packet size being
randomized between 256 to 512 Bytes [15].
As for frame structure, Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode
is preferred in this scenario as it enables dynamic allocation of
downlink and uplink resources to support asymmetric
bidirectional traffic ratio. The Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation (QAM) chosen are based on standard structures
used by most network settings. The higher order format of
QAM, the higher the link data rate. The rest of the simulation
setup parameters are summarized in Table I.
TABLE I. SIMULATION PARAMETERS
gradually from 0.15% to 18.68% above TBE upon reaching 50
UEs.
On the whole, Video simulation results appeared to be
exceptionally reassuring for the reason that its strict delay QoS
restraints fit TBE-M’s criteria suitably. The resultant scheduling
metric for Video is usually high and guarantees prioritized
service to Video flows during resource allocation. As a result,
the waiting time is significantly reduced and hence lowering its
overall packet delay. Besides, non-real time M2M transmissions
with low latency requirements are also deterred from disrupting
prioritized Video services, ensuring better fairness to these
outnumbered Video traffics.

Parameter Value Video Throughput

PHY OFDMA 1500000

Throughput [bps]
Bandwidth / Frame Length 10 MHz / 10 ms
1000000
Frame Structure TDD
500000
Modulation QAM, 4-QAM, 16-QAM
0
Simulation Period 60s 10 20 30 40 50
Number of Simulation 5 Users
Traffic Models H2H: Video, VoIP, BE; M2M
TBE TBE-M
Mobility eNB: Fixed Position;
UE: Random Mobility
Number of UEs H2H UEs: 10-50; Fig. 1. Video Throughput.
M2M UEs: 100
UE interval 10
Video Delay

Several runs are conducted with 100 M2M UE constantly in 0.08

Delay [sec]

background while number of H2H UE are manipulated to 0.06

observe for different traffic ratios. The fairness of scheduler is 0.04
then obtained by Jain Fairness Index [16] based on achieved 0.02
throughputs by each traffic, which is defined as:
0
మ
10 20 30 40 50
൫σ೟೔సభ ௫೔ ൯
ൌ (3) Users
௧ σ೟೔సభ ௫ మ

Where: TBE TBE-M

‫ݔ‬௜ = amount of resource used by ݅௧௛ node
‫ = ݐ‬total number of nodes Fig. 2. Video Delay.

Fig. 1 to 3 illustrate the significance of improvements TBE-

M capable to achieve for H2H Video traffics in terms of Video Fairness Index
throughput, delay and fairness accordingly. The enhancement is 0.02
especially notable in Fig. 1 where TBE-M yields approximately
0.015
Fairness

double the throughput of TBE at the congestion point, 20 UEs,

where radio resources are perfectly proportionate to the demand. 0.01
However, the demand began to overload the network with every 0.005
increment in H2H UEs thereafter, causing throughput to 0
consistently declines from rigorous competition over scarce 10 20 30 40 50
resource available. Despite that, the performance of TBE-M is Users
observed to remain above TBE by 50% higher rate in subsequent
runs. The delay in Video traffic has also been reduced by around
25% for the first 10 to 30 UEs and 10% for the other two TBE TBE-M
remaining intervals as described in Fig. 2. As seen from Fig. 3,
Video fairness index in TBE-M is observed to be improving Fig. 3. Video Fairness Index.
 As seen from Fig. 4, it is noticeable that TBE-M maintained
a relatively low VoIP delay towards the end in comparison to the
original TBE. Although TBE-M started off with delay 10.6%
lower than of TBE’s, the difference gap widened to 63.56% by
50 UEs. Despite VoIP being a less delay-sensitive traffic than
Video, its delay requirement is still fairly higher as compared to
many, reserving better opportunities to be scheduled early. In
addition, VoIP tends to have more uncoordinated inter-packet
arrivals which also fulfill higher arrival deviance criterion in
TBE-M scheduler’s metric. Thus, the resultant delay is
significantly improved from TBE scheme.
VoIP Delay
0.015
Delay [sec]
wireless network. Visible evidence can be seen from Video
throughput, Video delay, Video fairness index, VoIP’s delay
and even M2M’s delay. The introduction of new attributes in
TBE-M is reassuring and effective and more of these M2M-
aware parameters shall be discovered in our future work.
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V. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
Based on previous section, TBE-M has proven
significant advantage over conventional TBE in present-day