How Device-to-Device Communication can be used to Support an Industrial Mobile Network Infrastructure

With the increasing number of sensors and other connected devices in industrial settings like factories or warehouses requiring reliable, low latency communication and mobility, alternatives to current standards have to be considered. In this paper, we investigate how Deviceto- Device communication can be used to support an industrial mobile communication infrastructure. We consider a number of possible applications and discuss requirements and potential issues. We focus on the handover from a direct connection to a relay connection and examine whether that is a viable approach to enhancing wireless coverage for mobile wireless machines like automated guided vehicles. Proposed approaches to relay switching exist, but have not been experimentally validated. In this paper, we compare the X2 based handover with the PC5 based path switch procedure and evaluate the expected performance with respect to latency through simulations.