Interference Management of Inband Underlay Device-toDevice Communication in 5G Cellular Networks

The explosive growth of data traffic demands, emanating from smart mobile devices and bandwidth-consuming applications on the cellular network poses the need to drastically modify the cellular network architecture. A challenge faced by the network operators is the inability of the finite spectral resources to support the growing data traffic. The Next Generation Network (NGN) is expected to meet defined requirements such as massively connecting billions of devices with heterogeneous applications and services through enhanced mobile broadband networks, which provides higher data rates with improved network reliability and availability, lower end-to-end latency and increased energy efficiency. Device-to-Device (D2D) communication is one of the several emerging technologies that has been proposed to support NGN in meeting these aforementioned requirements. D2D communication leverages the proximity of users to provide direct communication with or without traversing the base station. Hence, the integration of D2D communication into cellular networks provides potential gains in terms of throughput, energy efficiency, network capacity and spectrum efficiency. D2D communication underlaying a cellular network provides efficient utilisation of the scarce spectral resources, however, there is an introduction of interference emanating from the reuse of cellular channels by D2D pairs. Hence, this dissertation focuses on the technical challenge with regards to interference management in underlay D2D communication. In order to tackle this challenge to be able to exploit the potentials of D2D communication, there is the need to answer some important research questions concerning the problem. Thus, the study aims to find out how cellular channels can be efficiently allocated to D2D pairs for reuse as an underlay to cellular network, and how mode selection and power control approaches influence the degree of interference caused by D2D pairs to cellular users. Also, the research study continues to determine how the quality of D2D communication can be maintained with factors such as bad channel quality or increased distance. In addressing these research questions, resource management techniques of mode selection, power control, relay selection and channel allocation are applied to minimise the interference caused by D2D pairs when reusing cellular channels to guarantee the Quality of Service (QoS) of cellular users, while optimally improving the number of permitted D2D pairs to reuse channels. The concept of Open loop power control scheme is examined in D2D communication underlaying cellular network. The performance of the fractional open loop power control components on SINR is studied. The simulation results portrayed that the conventional open loop power control method provides increased compensation for the path loss with higher D2D transmit power when compared with the fractional open loop power control method. Furthermore, the problem of channel allocation to minimise interference is modelled in two system model scenarios, consisting of cellular users coexisting with D2D pairs with or without relay assistance. The channel allocation problem is solved as an assignment problem by using a proposed heuristic channel allocation, random channel allocation, Kuhn-Munkres (KM) and Gale-Shapley (GS) algorithms. A comparative performance evaluation for the algorithms are carried out in the two system model scenarios, and the results indicated that D2D communication with relay assistance outperformed the conventional D2D communication without relay assistance. This concludes that the introduction of relay-assisted D2D communication can improve the quality of a network while utilising the available spectral resources without additional infrastructure deployment costs. The research work can be extended to apply an effective relay selection approach for a user mobility scenario

Resource allocation for network-controlled device-to-device communications in LTE-Advanced

Network-controlled device-to-device (D2D) communication allows cellular users to communicate directly, i.e., without passing through the eNodeB, while the latter retains control over resource allocation. This allows the same time–frequency resources to be allocated to spatially separated D2D flows simultaneously, thus increasing the cell throughput. This paper presents a framework for: (1) selecting which communications should use the D2D mode, and when, and (2) allocating resources to D2D and non-D2D users, exploiting reuse for the former. We show that the two problems, although apparently similar, should be kept separate and solved at different timescales in order to avoid problems, such as excessive packet loss. We model both as optimization problems, and propose a heuristic solution to the second, which must be solved at millisecond timescales. Simulation results show that our framework is practically viable, it avoids the problem of packet losses, increases throughput and reduces delays

Device-to-Device Communication and Multihop Transmission for Future Cellular Networks

The next generation wireless networks i.e. 5G aim to provide multi-Gbps data traffic, in order to satisfy the increasing demand for high-definition video, among other high data rate services, as well as the exponential growth in mobile subscribers. To achieve this dramatic increase in data rates, current research is focused on improving the capacity of current 4G network standards, based on Long Term Evolution (LTE), before radical changes are exploited which could include acquiring additional/new spectrum. The LTE network has a reuse factor of one; hence neighbouring cells/sectors use the same spectrum, therefore making the cell edge users vulnerable to inter-cell interference. In addition, wireless transmission is commonly hindered by fading and pathloss. In this direction, this thesis focuses on improving the performance of cell edge users in LTE and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) networks by initially implementing a new Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) algorithm to mitigate cell edge user interference. Subsequently Device-to-Device (D2D) communication is investigated as the enabling technology for maximising Resource Block (RB) utilisation in current 4G and emerging 5G networks. It is demonstrated that the application, as an extension to the above, of novel power control algorithms, to reduce the required D2D TX power, and multihop transmission for relaying D2D traffic, can further enhance network performance. To be able to develop the aforementioned technologies and evaluate the performance of new algorithms in emerging network scenarios, a beyond-the-state-of-the-art LTE system-level simulator (SLS) was implemented. The new simulator includes Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna functionalities, comprehensive channel models (such as Wireless World initiative New Radio II i.e. WINNER II) and adaptive modulation and coding schemes to accurately emulate the LTE and LTE-A network standards. Additionally, a novel interference modelling scheme using the ‘wrap around’ technique was proposed and implemented that maintained the topology of flat surfaced maps, allowing for use with cell planning tools while obtaining accurate and timely results in the SLS compared to the few existing platforms. For the proposed CoMP algorithm, the adaptive beamforming technique was employed to reduce interference on the cell edge UEs by applying Coordinated Scheduling (CoSH) between cooperating cells. Simulation results show up to 2-fold improvement in terms of throughput, and also shows SINR gain for the cell edge UEs in the cooperating cells. Furthermore, D2D communication underlaying the LTE network (and future generation of wireless networks) was investigated. The technology exploits the proximity of users in a network to achieve higher data rates with maximum RB utilisation (as the technology reuses the cellular RB simultaneously), while taking some load off the Evolved Node B (eNB) i.e. by direct communication between User Equipment (UE). Simulation results show that the proximity and transmission power of D2D transmission yields high performance gains for a D2D receiver, which was demonstrated to be better than that of cellular UEs with better channel conditions or in close proximity to the eNB in the network. The impact of interference from the simultaneous transmission however impedes the achievable data rates of cellular UEs in the network, especially at the cell edge. Thus, a power control algorithm was proposed to mitigate the impact of interference in the hybrid network (network consisting of both cellular and D2D UEs). It was implemented by setting a minimum SINR threshold so that the cellular UEs achieve a minimum performance, and equally a maximum SINR threshold to establish fairness for the D2D transmission as well. Simulation results show an increase in the cell edge throughput and notable improvement in the overall SINR distribution of UEs in the hybrid network. Additionally, multihop transmission for D2D UEs was investigated in the hybrid network: traditionally, the scheme is implemented to relay cellular traffic in a homogenous network. Contrary to most current studies where D2D UEs are employed to relay cellular traffic, the use of idle nodes to relay D2D traffic was implemented uniquely in this thesis. Simulation results show improvement in D2D receiver throughput with multihop transmission, which was significantly better than that of the same UEs performance with equivalent distance between the D2D pair when using single hop transmission

Low-latency Data Uploading in D2D-enabled Cellular Networks

指導教員：姜　暁

Efficient Traffic Management Algorithms for the Core Network using Device-to-Device Communication and Edge Caching

Exponentially growing number of communicating devices and the need for faster, more reliable and secure communication are becoming major challenges for current mobile communication architecture. More number of connected devices means more bandwidth and a need for higher Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, which bring new challenges in terms of resource and traffic management. Traffic offload to the edge has been introduced to tackle this demand-explosion that let the core network offload some of the contents to the edge to reduce the traffic congestion. Device-to-Device (D2D) communication and edge caching, has been proposed as promising solutions for offloading data. D2D communication refers to the communication infrastructure where the users in proximity communicate with each other directly. D2D communication improves overall spectral efficiency, however, it introduces additional interference in the system. To enable D2D communication, efficient resource allocation must be introduced in order to minimize the interference in the system and this benefits the system in terms of bandwidth efficiency. In the first part of this thesis, low complexity resource allocation algorithm using stable matching is proposed to optimally assign appropriate uplink resources to the devices in order to minimize interference among D2D and cellular users. Edge caching has recently been introduced as a modification of the caching scheme in the core network, which enables a cellular Base Station (BS) to keep copies of the contents in order to better serve users and enhance Quality of Experience (QoE). However, enabling BSs to cache data on the edge of the network brings new challenges especially on deciding on which and how the contents should be cached. Since users in the same cell may share similar content-needs, we can exploit this temporal-spatial correlation in the favor of caching system which is referred to local content popularity. Content popularity is the most important factor in the caching scheme which helps the BSs to cache appropriate data in order to serve the users more efficiently. In the edge caching scheme, the BS does not know the users request-pattern in advance. To overcome this bottleneck, a content popularity prediction using Markov Decision Process (MDP) is proposed in the second part of this thesis to let the BS know which data should be cached in each time-slot. By using the proposed scheme, core network access request can be significantly reduced and it works better than caching based on historical data in both stable and unstable content popularity

Recent Advances in Cellular D2D Communications

Device-to-device (D2D) communications have attracted a great deal of attention from researchers in recent years. It is a promising technique for offloading local traffic from cellular base stations by allowing local devices, in physical proximity, to communicate directly with each other. Furthermore, through relaying, D2D is also a promising approach to enhancing service coverage at cell edges or in black spots. However, there are many challenges to realizing the full benefits of D2D. For one, minimizing the interference between legacy cellular and D2D users operating in underlay mode is still an active research issue. With the 5th generation (5G) communication systems expected to be the main data carrier for the Internet-of-Things (IoT) paradigm, the potential role of D2D and its scalability to support massive IoT devices and their machine-centric (as opposed to human-centric) communications need to be investigated. New challenges have also arisen from new enabling technologies for D2D communications, such as non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and blockchain technologies, which call for new solutions to be proposed. This edited book presents a collection of ten chapters, including one review and nine original research works on addressing many of the aforementioned challenges and beyond

Joint Beamforming and Power Optimization for D2D Underlaying Cellular Networks

This paper studies the optimal joint beamforming and power control strategy for device-to-device (D2D) communication underlaying multiuser multiple-input multiple-output cellular networks. We consider multiple antennas at the base station (BS) and a single antenna at each cellular user (CU), D2D transmitter (DT) and D2D receiver (DR). We aim to minimize the total transmission power of the system by jointly designing the transmit beamforming at the BS and the transmit powers for both BS and DTs, while satisfying the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio based quality-of-service constraints for both CUs and DRs. Due to the non-convex nature of the problem, we apply the semidefinite relaxation technique to find the optimal solution, which always satisfies the rank-one constraint. We also investigate three sub-optimal fixed beamforming schemes: zero-forcing (ZF), regularized ZF and hybrid maximum ratio transmission-ZF, where the focus is to minimize the total transmission power while reducing complexity. When perfect channel information is not available, we propose a robust transmit power minimization strategy with ZF beamforming which only requires limited feedback based channel direction information at the BS. Finally, computer simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes

Interference mitigation in D2D communication underlaying LTE-A network

The mobile data traffic has risen exponentially in recent days due to the emergence of data intensive applications, such as online gaming and video sharing. It is driving the telecommunication industry as well as the research community to come up with new paradigms that will support such high data rate requirements within the existing wireless access network, in an efficient and effective manner. To respond to this challenge, device-to-device (D2D) communication in cellular networks is viewed as a promising solution, which is expected to operate, either within the coverage area of the existing eNB and under the same cellular spectrum (in-band) or separate spectrum (out-band). D2D provides the opportunity for users located in close proximity of each other to communicate directly, without traversing data traffic through the eNB. It results in several transmission gains, such as improved throughput, energy gain, hop gain, and reuse gain. However, integration of D2D communication in cellular systems at the same time introduces new technical challenges that need to be addressed. Containment of the interference among D2D nodes and cellular users is one of the major problems. D2D transmission radiates in all directions, generating undesirable interference to primary cellular users and other D2D users sharing the same radio resources resulting in severe performance degradation. Efficient interference mitigation schemes are a principal requirement in order to optimize the system performance. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the existing interference mitigation schemes present in the open literature. Based on the subjective and objective analysis of the work available to date, it is also envisaged that adopting a multi-antenna beamforming mechanism with power control, such that the transmit power is maximized toward the direction of the intended D2D receiver node and limited in all other directions will minimize the interference in the network. This could maximize the sum throughput and hence, guarantees the reliability of both the D2D and cellular connections