Device-to-device (D2D) communications was initially proposed in cellular networks as a new paradigm for enhancing network performance. The emergence of new applications such as content distribution and location-aware advertisement introduced new user cases for D2D communications in cellular networks. The initial studies showed that D2D communications has advantages such as increased spectral efficiency and reduced communication delay. However, this communication mode introduces complications in terms of interference control overhead and protocols that are still open research problems. The feasibility of D2D communications in Long-Term Evolution Advanced is being studied by academia, industry, and standardization bodies. To date, there are more than 100 papers available on D2D communications in cellular networks, but there is no survey on this field. In this paper, we provide a taxonomy based on the D2D communicating spectrum and review the available literature extensively under the proposed taxonomy. Moreover, we provide new insights into the over-explored and under-explored areas that lead us to identify open research problems of D2D communications in cellular networks.

https://eprints.networks.imdea.org/id/document/2488

A Survey on Device-to-Device Communication in Cellular Networks

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication was initially proposed in cellular networks as a new paradigm to enhance network performance. The emergence of new applications such as content distribution and location-aware advertisement introduced new use-cases for D2D communications in cellular networks. The initial studies showed that D2D communication has advantages such as increased spectral efficiency and reduced communication delay. However, this communication mode introduces complications in terms of interference control overhead and protocols that are still open research problems. The feasibility of D2D communications in LTE-A is being studied by academia, industry, and the standardization bodies. To date, there are more than 100 papers available on D2D communications in cellular networks and, there is no survey on this field. In this article, we provide a taxonomy based on the D2D communicating spectrum and review the available literature extensively under the proposed taxonomy. Moreover, we provide new insights to the over-explored and under-explored areas which lead us to identify open research problems of D2D communication in cellular networks.

Device-to-device (D2D) communications underlaying a cellular infrastructure has been proposed as a means of taking advantage of the physical proximity of communicating devices, increasing resource utilization, and improving cellular coverage. Relative to the traditional cellular methods, there is a need to design new peer discovery methods, physical layer procedures, and radio resource management algorithms that help realize the potential advantages of D2D communications. In this article we use the 3GPP Long Term Evolution system as a baseline for D2D design, review some of the key design challenges, and propose solution approaches that allow cellular devices and D2D pairs to share spectrum resources and thereby increase the spectrum and energy efficiency of traditional cellular networks. Simulation results illustrate the viability of the proposed design.

Design aspects of network assisted device-to-device communications

Among the LTE-A communication techniques, Device-to-Device (D2D) communication which is defined to directly route data traffic between spatially closely located mobile user equipments (UEs), holds great promise in improving energy efficiency, throughput, delay, as well as spectrum efficiency As a combination of ad-hoc and centralized communication mechanisms, D2D communication enables researchers to merge together the long-term development achievements in previously disjoint domains of ad-hoc networking and centralized networking To help researchers to have a systematic understanding of the emerging D2D communication, we provide in this paper a comprehensive survey of available D2D related research works ranging from technical papers to experimental prototypes to standard activities, and outline some open research problems which deserve further studies

Device-to-Device Communication in LTE-Advanced Networks: A Survey

Methods and apparatus in a fifth-generation wireless communications, including an example method, in a wireless device, that includes receiving a downlink signal comprising an uplink access configuration index, using the uplink access configuration index to identify an uplink access configuration from among a predetermined plurality of uplink access configurations, and transmitting to the wireless communications network according to the identified uplink access configuration. The example method further includes, in the same wireless device, receiving, in a first subframe, a first Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) transmission formatted according to a first numerology and receiving, in a second subframe, a second OFDM transmission formatted according to a second numerology, the second numerology differing from the first numerology. Variants of this method, corresponding apparatuses, and corresponding network-side methods and apparatuses are also disclosed.

Network architecture, methods, and devices for a wireless communications network

Device-to-device (D2D) communications underlaying a cellular infrastructure has recently been proposed as a means of increasing the cellular capacity, improving the user throughput and extending the battery lifetime of user equipments by facilitating the reuse of spectrum resources between D2D and cellular links. In network assisted D2D communications, when two devices are in the proximity of each other, the network can not only help the devices to set the appropriate transmit power and schedule time and frequency resources but also to determine whether communication should take place via the direct D2D link (D2D mode) or via the cellular base station (cellular mode). In this paper we formulate the joint mode selection, scheduling and power control task as an optimization problem that we first solve assuming the availability of a central entity. We also propose a distributed suboptimal joint mode selection and resource allocation scheme that we benchmark with respect to the centralized optimal solution. We find that the distributed scheme performs close to the optimal scheme both in terms of resource efficiency and user fairness.

http://www.gfodor.iblogger.org/upload/conference/D2D-Resource-Allocation_IEEE_M2M_WS.pdf

Performance analysis of a distributed resource allocation scheme for D2D communications

Device-to-device (D2D) communications integrated into cellular networks is a means to take advantage of the proximity of devices and thereby to increase the user bitrates and system capacity. D2D communications has recently been proposed for the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) system as a method to increase the spectrum- and energy-efficiency. Such systems support a wide range of power control schemes based on a combination of open-loop and closed-loop components and there is a need to set the associated control parameters such that spectrum- and energy-efficiency targets are met. In this paper we study the performance of various power control strategies applicable to D2D communications in LTE networks and compare them with a utility function maximization approach that balances spectrum efficiency and the total transmission power. Our reference scheme is based on a fully distributed algorithm that iteratively sets the signal-to-interference-plus-noise (SINR) targets and corresponding transmit power levels. We find that the LTE-based power control approach performs close to the optimal scheme provided that the associated parameters are properly set1.

A comparative study of power control approaches for device-to-device communications

Systems and methods for network-assisted device discovery for device-to-device (D2D) communications are disclosed. In one embodiment, a base station in a cellular communications network receives a D2D request from a first wireless device to establish D2D communication. In response to the D2D request, the base station selects a second wireless device for D2D communication with the first wireless device based on the D2D request and information regarding wireless devices that are available for D2D communication. The base station then transmits a D2D request acknowledgment to the first wireless device that includes information that enables the first wireless device to establish D2D communication with the second wireless device. The base station also effects transmission of a D2D reconfiguration message to the second wireless device, where the D2D reconfiguration message includes information that informs the second wireless device that the first wireless device has requested establishment of D2D communication.

Network-assisted ue detection in direct mode ue-to-ue communication

Intelligent transport systems (ITS) have recently attracted much attention, partly arising from the demands of improving road traffic safety and efficiency. 3GPP is addressing the communication needs associated to ITS and vehicle to vehicle (V2V) services as part of LTE Rel-14 enhancements, including unicast, multicast, and sidelink transport options. This paper summarizes the present status of 3GPP standardization, evaluates the different LTE based transport options, and compares the performance of LTE to an alternative V2V transport based on the IEEE 802.11p standard. Our investigations show that LTE multicast is more efficient than LTE unicast, which is constrained by limited downlink resources. We also observe a performance trade-off between LTE multicast and sidelink, where for high system load sidelink provides better reliability than LTE multicast for shorter communication ranges, while multicast outperforms sidelink for longer ranges. Finally, our results show that both LTE multicast and LTE sidelink outperform IEEE 802.11p in range and reliability for the considered scenarios.

Comparison of LTE and DSRC-Based Connectivity for Intelligent Transportation Systems

Systems and methods related to Device-to-Device (D2D) communication in a cellular communications network are disclosed. In one embodiment, a base station obtains D2D capability information for wireless devices, where the D2D capability information indicates that the wireless devices are physically capable of D2D communication. The base station also receives a D2D request from a first wireless device and, in response, determines that a D2D initialization procedure is to be performed. In response to determining that the D2D initialization is to be performed, the base station transmits a positive D2D decision to the first wireless device that includes information that enables the first wireless device to establish D2D communication with a second wireless device, where the second wireless device is one of the wireless devices that are physically capable of D2D communication.

Marco Belleschi

Papers

Performance analysis of a distributed resource allocation scheme for D2D communications

A comparative study of power control approaches for device-to-device communications

Network-assisted ue detection in direct mode ue-to-ue communication

Comparison of LTE and DSRC-Based Connectivity for Intelligent Transportation Systems

Network-assisted d2d communication using d2d capability information