Green grant-free power allocation for ultra-dense Internet of Things: A mean-field perspective

Grant-free access, in which each Internet-of-Things (IoT) device delivers its packets through a randomly selected resource without spending time on handshaking procedures, is a promising solution for supporting the massive connectivity required for IoT systems. In this paper, we explore grant-free access with multi-packet reception capabilities, with an emphasis on ultra-low-end IoT applications with small data sizes, sporadic activity, and energy usage constraints. We propose a power allocation scheme aimed at maximizing throughput while minimizing power consumption by considering the traffic and energy constraints of IoT devices. Our approach employs a stochastic geometry framework and mean-field game theory to model and analyze the mutual interference among active IoT devices. Additionally, we utilize a Markov chain model to capture and track the queue length of IoT devices, enabling the derivation of the transmission success probability at steady-state. The simulation results illustrate the optimal power allocation strategy and evaluate the proposed approach's performance in terms of packet transmission success probability and average delay.