Joint mode selection and power allocation for better traffic offloading in D2D communications

Device-to-Device (D2D) technology underlying the cellular network is an attractive solution for future generation network to increase cellular traffic offloading. When two devices are close enough, D2D communication allows a direct communication between them without the mediation of the cellular base station. However, since D2D communication shares the same uplink cellular network radio resource, D2D communication mode selection remains challenging to limit the mutual interference between D2D and cellular links. In this paper, a new D2D mode selection scheme based on a new criterion is proposed aiming at maximizing the cellular traffic offload while respecting the quality of service of cellular users. More precisely, we introduce a noise rise parameter which takes into account the cellular link distance, the D2D link distance, and user’s required throughput. The D2D links are admitted under the constraint of a certain noise rise threshold. To further enhance the achieved throughput of D2D users while respecting the overall interference level in the network, a new power control algorithm is also proposed. Simulation results show that our proposed mode selection scheme provides a tradeoff between traffic offloading and the overall radio capacity in the network. They also prove that the D2D communication mode is more attractive at the cell edge and when D2D users are close enough to each other. In addition, we show the effectiveness of our proposed power control scheme as compared to both static and Rate-Adaptive Water Filling power allocation schemes.