M2M AT A CROSSROADS – A REVIEW OF TECHNOLOGIES AND PERSPECTIVES

M2MAPPS: You have been giving M2M talks, together with Dr. Mischa Dohler, all around the globe for the last two years. Which are your main research activities in this field?

JESUS ALONSO-ZARATE : Yes, we started off in December 2010 at the international conference IEEE GLOBECOM 2010. Since then, we have been giving a series of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) tutorials around the globe in different events, universities, and companies. As the M2M arena is changing quickly, we face the challenge of maintaining the contents updated for each new event. We are really glad that the tutorial has been received with great expectation. We made the last presentation (at IEEE GLOBECOM 2012) available online at http://bit.ly/U6vxO5, and we reached more than 32,000 downloads in only the first 24 hours. This is a good signal that M2M is a very interesting topic today. Regarding our research activities, we have set up a nice M2M team at the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC) in Barcelona. This team is focused on smart grids and smart cities, and we work on different solutions related to M2M. We are experts in architectural solutions and in the design of specific communication algorithms for the protocol stack. We are very active in European Research projects related to M2M, and we have a good balance between theoretical and experimental research, as we aim at a close contact with the industry.

M2MAPPS: Some people ask what is really new about M2M. Is it really a breakthrough?

JESUS ALONSO-ZARATE : This is a very interesting question. Still some people ask what is really new about M2M. Indeed, M2M has been there for many years. The Swedish company Maingate, was one of the first companies introducing the term M2M already in 1998. Since then, the communication between machines has been enabling a wide range of “smart” applications over the last years. Unfortunately, the majority of these applications are based on proprietary solutions, which are not scalable at all, and cannot be interoperable. They typically operate over communication networks that have not been optimized for the specific characteristics of M2M communications. Moreover, network operators have just played an indirect role, providing a simple pipe to transmit data, again, without any particular optimization for M2M. However, things are changing. Over the last years, operators and service providers have become aware of the fact that there is a huge market opportunity around M2M. The potential of M2M to create new applications and open new markets is huge, and thus network providers are aiming at the definition of standards to make M2M solutions optimal, scalable, and interoperable. In this sense, there are many bodies around the globe aiming at the definition of M2M solutions. This is the case of 3GPP or ETSI, among many others, which have specific technical committees devoted to the definition of technical specifications and architectural solutions for M2M. The main challenge of M2M is to provide energy and cost-effective solutions to transmit few amounts of data over long distances. We do not have an efficient solution for this yet, although we are on our way.

M2MAPPS: Is LTE the future of M2M? Which will be the role or technologies such as GSM or UMTS?

JESUS ALONSO-ZARATE : Cellular solutions have many advantages over short-range communications based on Low-Power Wifi or Zigbee-like networks, for example. There is cellular coverage almost in every inch of the planet, and this is something we cannot afford with other technologies. The possibility of roaming around the planet and maintain connectivity, and the use of dedicated bandwidths, which allow controlling interference, are key factors that make cellular solutions very appealing for M2M. That being said, LTE or LTE-A are a total overkill design for M2M. LTE has been designed to satisfy high-data rates and high mobility with sophisticated signal processing techniques on-board. However, M2M is about doing things simple, cheap, and efficient, typically for the transmission of few data bits with low periodicity. Simply imagine the transmission of the reading of an electricity meter which needs to be read every 1 hour. However, the technology behind LTE-A is very flexible and thus it is possible to optimize it to be a perfect match for M2M, and still be able to coexist with human-based traffic. In this sense, there are many research groups working on this optimization, and the 3GPP has a specific technical committee working on these optimizations already. We are getting there. About GSM, I think it will have a relevant role for M2M in those locations where the infrastructure is already in place, as it is a simple technology that allows for the provision of energy and cost-effective solutions. Regarding UMTS, there are some specific challenges, such as the use of instantaneous power control required for CDMA access, that compromise the suitability of UMTS for use in M2M solutions.

M2MAPPS: What about other emerging short-range technologies such as Low Power Wifi or IEEE 802.15.4?

JESUS ALONSO-ZARATE : These technologies will have its role in M2M. As I have said before, cellular networks offer some advantages that short-range solutions cannot offer: ubiquitous coverage, mobility, roaming, interference management, etc. However, it is true that some applications may benefit from the combination of cellular networks with short-range communications. According to the vision of ETSI, the architectural solution for some applications will consist in creating M2M area networks locally, and get cellular connectivity through M2M gateways. This short-range connectivity may be provided by technologies such as those based on Zigbee-like solutions or Low-Power Wifi. From my view, Low-Power Wifi has a very strong position; some companies are already commercializing energy-efficient implementations Wifi which can provide very efficient solutions for M2M applications, exploiting the already existing infrastructure. In dense urban environments, current WiFi technology can indeed be compared to that of cellular networks, although still many challenges have to be faced before this can be exploited in an efficient manner. Although I strongly believe in cellular networks as the main solution for M2M applications, short-range networks will still be able to provide local connectivity to create the so-called M2M area networks for some specific applications.

M2MAPPS: So, which are the main challenges ahead to make M2M a reality?

JESUS ALONSO-ZARATE : The main key challenges are to optimize the networks we have to meet the requirements of M2M applications and to agree on some common standards. For many years we have been designing networks to satisfy the needs of humans; high data traffic, low delay, real-time communications, provision of Quality of Service, etc. Now, it is time to redesign networks to meet an enormous variety of requirements for very different applications, with typically a huge amount of devices, infrequent transmissions, low amounts of data to transmit, a tight requirement of ultra-low energy consumption, and very important, to enable a smooth coexistence of humans and machines. We need to rethink the network architectures, the protocol stack, and define a subset of common standards that ensures the compatibility of different solutions and the long-term sustainability of deployments. Above all, security is a must, not only in terms of confidentiality and trust of the communications, but also physically, to make sure that devices are not tampered or manipulated. Also the way of processing and storing these amounts of data, where the cloud will play a key role, needs to be revisited for an enormous community of devices. Machina Research Predictions claim more than 12 billion connections by 2020 generating revenues of 714 billion euros. And this is another challenge ahead; it is necessary to define new business models and new fare systems that make economically viable the M2M business. Also, it is important to bear in mind that M2M is not only about exchanging data among machines, but also processing and storing these data in servers or in the cloud. Finally, the interaction with humans is the final target to realize an impact into daily lives. For this reason, the Human to Computer Interaction (HCI) is emerging as a very active research topic, where the use of smartphones, tablets, and new gadgets to appear will play an essential role. All in all, there are so many interdisciplinary challenges ahead that the M2M community is growing day by day. The interest in getting machines communicating to each other is being raised at both sides; academia and industry. Now it is only a matter of getting the technology and the services ready to reach the final customers: us, the humans.

M2MAPPS: What are your personal predictions on M2M?

JESUS ALONSO-ZARATE : Over the last years, the presentations that Dr. Mischa Dohler and I have been offering around the globe have enabled us to be in close contact with engineers, managers, and decision-makers working on M2M to exchange thoughts and visions on the future of M2M. All in all, we could say that the future of M2M could be driven by the following four predictions: Prediction #1: The capillary embodiment of M2M in the form of Zigbee-like products may never reach critical mass due to the lack of an already deployed infrastructure. However, low-power Wifi may scale very quickly, as the infrastructure is already there. Prediction #2: With some exceptions, network operators will miss out again on the opportunity to become a true M2M service provider, i.e., capitalize on the data content rather than on the data pipe. Prediction #3: Integrators of integrators and data analytics companies close to the customer, such as IBM, Oracle, SAP, etc., will capitalize on the true value of M2M and thus make it an expensive “circle” to be in. Prediction #4: Uptake of M2M technologies will be much slower than anticipated due to being initially marginal business for very large corporations (who have the critical mass for making M2M happen) and suffering from too-long sales cycles for allowing innovative startups to operate.