Abstract
In this paper, internet of things (IoT) connectivity in rural
areas is investigated. Both fronthaul and backhaul considerations are
studied. First, intelligent radio resource management (RRM) and network
planning techniques are discussed for IoT access/fronthaul networks. The
proposed RRM scheduling approach was shown to lead to good performance
in scheduling IoT devices. Then, several backhauling techniques for
providing connectivity to rural areas are investigated and their cost
efficiency is analyzed. Techniques based on free space optics with solar
powered devices are found to be a suitable backhaul solution.
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