Separation Framework: An Enabler for Cooperative and D2D Communication for Future 5G Networks

Soaring capacity and coverage demands dictate that future cellular networks need to soon migrate towards ultra-dense networks. However, network densification comes with a host of challenges that include compromised energy efficiency, complex interference management, cumbersome mobility management, burdensome signaling overheads and higher backhaul costs. Interestingly, most of the problems, that beleaguer network densification, stem from legacy networks' one common feature i.e., tight coupling between the control and data planes regardless of their degree of heterogeneity and cell density. Consequently, in wake of 5G, control and data planes separation architecture (SARC) has recently been conceived as a promising paradigm that has potential to address most of aforementioned challenges. In this article, we review various proposals that have been presented in literature so far to enable SARC. More specifically, we analyze how and to what degree various SARC proposals address the four main challenges in network densification namely: energy efficiency, system level capacity maximization, interference management and mobility management. We then focus on two salient features of future cellular networks that have not yet been adapted in legacy networks at wide scale and thus remain a hallmark of 5G, i.e., coordinated multipoint (CoMP), and device-to-device (D2D) communications. After providing necessary background on CoMP and D2D, we analyze how SARC can particularly act as a major enabler for CoMP and D2D in context of 5G. This article thus serves as both a tutorial as well as an up to date survey on SARC, CoMP and D2D. Most importantly, the article provides an extensive outlook of challenges and opportunities that lie at the crossroads of these three mutually entangled emerging technologies.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 201

A Novel Device-to-Device Discovery Scheme for Underlay Cellular Networks

Tremendous growing demand for high data rate services such as video, gaming and social networking in wireless cellular systems, attracted researchers' attention to focus on developing proximity services. In this regard, device-to-device (D2D) communications as a promising technology for future cellular systems, plays crucial rule. The key factor in D2D communication is providing efficient peer discovery mechanisms in ultra dense networks. In this paper, we propose a centralized D2D discovery scheme by employing a signaling algorithm to exchange D2D discovery messages between network entities. In this system, potential D2D pairs share uplink cellular users' resources with collision detection, to initiate a D2D links. Stochastic geometry is used to analyze system performance in terms of success probability of the transmitted signal and minimum required time slots for the proposed discovery scheme. Extensive simulations are used to evaluate the proposed system performance.Comment: Accepted for publication in 25'th Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering (ICEE2017