Home M2M Networks: Architectures, Standards, and QoS Improvement

It is envisioned that home networks will shift from current machine-to-human communications to the machine-to-machine paradigm with the rapid penetration of embedded devices in home surroundings. In this article, we first identify the fundamental challenges in home M2M networks. Then we present the architecture of home M2M networks decomposed into three subareas depending on the radio service ranges and potential applications. Finally, we focus on QoS management in home M2M networks, considering the increasing number of multimedia devices and growing visual requirements in a home area. Three standards for multimedia sharing and their QoS architectures are outlined. Cross-layer joint admission and rate control design is reported for QoS-aware multimedia sharing. This proposed strategy is aware of the QoS requirements and resilience of multimedia services. Illustrative results indicate that the joint design is able to intelligently allocate radio bandwidth based on QoS demands in resource-constrained home M2M networks.