Review on Radio Resource Allocation Optimization in LTE/LTE-Advanced using Game Theory

Recently, there has been a growing trend toward ap-plying game theory (GT) to various engineering fields in order to solve optimization problems with different competing entities/con-tributors/players. Researches in the fourth generation (4G) wireless network field also exploited this advanced theory to overcome long term evolution (LTE) challenges such as resource allocation, which is one of the most important research topics. In fact, an efficient de-sign of resource allocation schemes is the key to higher performance. However, the standard does not specify the optimization approach to execute the radio resource management and therefore it was left open for studies. This paper presents a survey of the existing game theory based solution for 4G-LTE radio resource allocation problem and its optimization

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

Advanced Technologies for Device-to-device Communications Underlaying Cellular Networks

The past few years have seen a major change in cellular networks, as explosive growth in data demands requires more and more network capacity and backhaul capability. New wireless technologies have been proposed to tackle these challenges. One of the emerging technologies is device-to-device (D2D) communications. It enables two cellular user equip- ment (UEs) in proximity to communicate with each other directly reusing cellular radio resources. In this case, D2D is able to of oad data traf c from central base stations (BSs) and signi cantly improve the spectrum ef ciency of a cellular network, and thus is one of the key technologies for the next generation cellular systems. Radio resource management (RRM) for D2D communications and how to effectively exploit the potential bene ts of D2D are two paramount challenges to D2D communications underlaying cellular networks. In this thesis, we focus on four problems related to these two challenges. In Chapter 2, we utilise the mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) to model and solve the RRM optimisation problems for D2D communications. Firstly we consider the RRM optimisation problem for D2D communications underlaying the single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) system and devise a heuristic sub- optimal solution to it. Then we propose an optimised RRM mechanism for multi-hop D2D communications with network coding (NC). NC has been proven as an ef cient technique to improve the throughput of ad-hoc networks and thus we apply it to multi-hop D2D communications. We devise an optimal solution to the RRM optimisation problem for multi-hop D2D communications with NC. In Chapter 3, we investigate how the location of the D2D transmitter in a cell may affect the RRM mechanism and the performance of D2D communications. We propose two optimised location-based RRM mechanisms for D2D, which maximise the throughput and the energy ef ciency of D2D, respectively. We show that, by considering the location information of the D2D transmitter, the MINLP problem of RRM for D2D communications can be transformed into a convex optimisation problem, which can be ef ciently solved by the method of Lagrangian multipliers. In Chapter 4, we propose a D2D-based P2P le sharing system, which is called Iunius. The Iunius system features: 1) a wireless P2P protocol based on Bittorrent protocol in the application layer; 2) a simple centralised routing mechanism for multi-hop D2D communications; 3) an interference cancellation technique for conventional cellular (CC) uplink communications; and 4) a radio resource management scheme to mitigate the interference between CC and D2D communications that share the cellular uplink radio resources while maximising the throughput of D2D communications. We show that with the properly designed application layer protocol and the optimised RRM for D2D communications, Iunius can signi cantly improve the quality of experience (QoE) of users and of oad local traf c from the base station. In Chapter 5, we combine LTE-unlicensed with D2D communications. We utilise LTE-unlicensed to enable the operation of D2D in unlicensed bands. We show that not only can this improve the throughput of D2D communications, but also allow D2D to work in the cell central area, which normally regarded as a “forbidden area” for D2D in existing works. We achieve these results mainly through numerical optimisation and simulations. We utilise a wide range of numerical optimisation theories in our works. Instead of utilising the general numerical optimisation algorithms to solve the optimisation problems, we modify them to be suitable for the speci c problems, thereby reducing the computational complexity. Finally, we evaluate our proposed algorithms and systems through sophisticated numer- ical simulations. We have developed a complete system-level simulation framework for D2D communications and we open-source it in Github: https://github.com/mathwuyue/py- wireless-sys-sim

Energy Efficiency and Privacy Protection in Cellular Networks

Smartphones have become an essential part of our society. The benefits of having an always present, highly capable device cannot be overstated. As more aspects of our life depend on our smartphones, it is more important than ever to ensure the availability of those devices. However, their big advantages also come with big risks. The fact that we have our smartphones with us all the time means that it is easier than ever to collect our information, sometimes without our consent. In this dissertation, we study the two pressing concerns in cellular communications: energy efficiency and privacy protection. We focus on LTE networks, the current most advanced global standard for cellular communications. In the first part of the dissertation, we study the energy efficiency problem from both device and network perspectives. From the device point of view, we introduce a new angle to address the battery life concern. We recognize that the value of battery for the users is not always the same, and that it depends on the user usage. We also identify, and show in real network, diversity of usage, the phenomenon that at any instant, there is a diverse distribution of smartphone usage among cellular users. We propose ``Battery Deposit Service'' (BDS), a cooperative system which makes use of device-to-device (D2D) communications underlaying cellular networks to provide energy sharing in the form of load sharing. We design BDS to take advantage of diversity of usage to maximize the utility of smartphone battery. We show that our system increases battery life of cellular users, at almost no cost to the rest of the network. BDS is designed to be compatible to LTE architecture. From the network point of view, we design an energy efficient D2D relay system underlaying LTE networks. We minimize transmission power of smartphones by considering relay selection, resource allocation and power control. The overall problem is prohibited due to its exponential search space. We develop a divide-and-conquer strategy which splits the overall problem into small sub-problems. We relate these sub-problems to well-studied graph theoretic problems, and take advantage of existing fast algorithms. We show that our algorithms meet the runtime requirement of real-time LTE operations. In the second part of the dissertation, we address a privacy concern in LTE networks. In particular, we show that user location can be leaked in current LTE paging architecture. We propose a mechanism based on signal processing to remedy this vulnerability. Our method makes use of physical layer identification, which are low-power tags embedded on the wireless waveform, to signal paging messages to user devices. We show that our method is stealthy and robust, and that it mitigates the aforementioned privacy issue

Floating band D2D:exploring and exploiting the potentials of adaptive D2D-enabled networks

In this paper, we propose Floating Band D2D, an adaptive framework to exploit the full potential of Device-to-Device (D2D) transmission modes. We show that inband and outband D2D modes exhibit different pros and cons in terms of complexity, interference, and spectral efficiency. Moreover, none of these modes is suitable as a one-size-fits-all solution for today's cellular networks, due to diverse network requirements and variable users' behavior. Therefore, we unveil the need for going beyond traditional single-band mode-selection schemes. Specifically, we model and formulate a general and adaptive multi-band mode selection problem, namely Floating Band D2D. The problem is NP-hard, so we propose simple yet effective heuristics. Our results show the superiority of the Floating Band D2D framework, which dramatically increases network utility and achieves near complete fairness

Opportunistic device-to-device communication in cellular networks: from theory to practice

Mención Internacional en el título de doctorCellular service providers have been struggling with users’ demand since the emergence of mobile Internet. As a result, each generation of cellular network prevailed over its predecessors mainly in terms of connection speed. However, the fifth generation (5G) of cellular network promises to go beyond this trend by revolutionizing the network architecture. Device-to-Device (D2D) communication is one of the revolutionary changes that enables mobile users to communicate directly without traversing a base station. This feature is being actively studied in 3GPP with special focus on public safety as it allows mobiles to operate in adhoc mode. Although under the (partial) control of the network, D2D communications open the door to many other use-cases. This dissertation studies different aspects of D2D communications and its impact on the key performance indicators of the network. We design an architecture for the collaboration of cellular users by means of timely exploited D2D opportunities. We begin by presenting the analytical study on opportunistic outband D2D communications. The study reveals the great potential of opportunistic outband D2D communications for enhancing energy efficiency, fairness, and capacity of cellular networks when groups of D2D users can be form and managed in the cellular network. Then we introduce a protocol that is compatible with the latest release of IEEE and 3GPP standards and allows for implementation of our proposal in a today’s cellular network. To validate our analytical findings, we use our experimental Software Defined Radio (SDR)-based testbed to further study our proposal in a real world scenario. The experimental results confirm the outstanding potential of opportunistic outband D2D communications. Finally, we investigate the performance merits and disadvantages of different D2D “modes”. Our investigation reveals, despite the common belief, that all D2D modes are complementary and their merits are scenario based.This work has been supported by IMDEA Networks Institute.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Ingeniería TelemáticaPresidente: Douglas Leith.- Secretario: Albert Banchs Roca.- Vocal: Carla Fabiana Chiasserin

Secrecy-Optimized Resource Allocation for Device-to-Device Communication Undelaying Cellular Networks

L’objectif principal de l’introduction de la communication de périphérique-à-périphérique «device-to-device» (D2D) sous-jacente aux systèmes de communication sans fil de cinquième génération (5G), est d’augmenter l’efficacité spectrale (ES). Cependant, la communication D2D sous-jacente aux réseaux cellulaires peut entraîner une dégradation des performances causée par des co-interférences de canal sévères entre les liaisons cellulaires et D2D. De plus, en raison de la complexité du contrôle et de la gestion, les connexions directes entre les appareils à proximité sont vulnérables. En conséquence, la communication D2D n’est pas robuste contre les menaces de sécurité et l’écoute clandestine. Pourtant, les co-interférences de canal peuvent être adoptées pour aider les utilisateurs cellulaires (UC) et les paires D2D afin d’empêcher l’écoute clandestine. Dans cette thèse, nous étudions différents scénarios de problèmes d’allocation de ressources en utilisant le concept de sécurité de couche physique «physical layer security» (PLS) pour la communication D2D sous-jacente aux réseaux cellulaires, tout en satisfaisant les exigences minimales de qualité de service (QoS) des liaisons cellulaires et D2D. Dans le cas où PLS est pris en compte, l’interférence peut aider à réduire l’écoute clandestine. Premièrement, nous formulons un scénario d’allocation de ressources dans lequel chaque bloc de ressources (RB) temps-fréquence de multiplexage par répartition orthogonale en fréquence (OFDM) peut être partagé par une seule CU et une paire D2D dans un réseau unicellulaire. Le problème formulé est réduit au problème de correspondance tridimensionnelle, qui est généralement NP-difficile, et la solution optimale peut être obtenue par des méthodes compliquées, telles que la recherche par force brute et/ou l’algorithme de branchement et de liaison qui ont une complexité de calcul exponentielle. Nous proposons donc une méta-heuristique basée sur l’algorithme de recherche tabou «Tabu Search» (TS) avec une complexité de calcul réduite pour trouver globalement la solution d’allocation de ressources radio quasi-optimale.----------ABSTRACT: The primary goal of introducing device-to-device (D2D) communication underlying fifthgeneration (5G) wireless communication systems is to increase spectral efficiency (ES). However, D2D communication underlying cellular networks can lead to performance degradation caused by severe co-channel interference between cellular and D2D links. In addition, due to the complexity of control and management, direct connections between nearby devices are vulnerable. Thus, D2D communication is not robust against security threats and eavesdropping. On the other hand, the co-channel interference can be adopted to help cellular users (CUs) and D2D pairs to prevent eavesdropping. In this thesis, we investigate different resource allocation problem scenarios using the physical layer security (PLS) concept for the D2D communication underlying cellular networks, while satisfying the minimum quality of service (QoS) requirements of cellular and D2D link. If the PLS is taken into account, the interference can help reduce eavesdropping. First, we formulate a resource allocation scenario in which each orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) time-frequency resource block (RB) can be shared by one single CU and one D2D pair in a single-cell network. The formulated problem is reduced to the threedimensional matching problem, which is generally NP-hard, and the optimal solution can be obtained through the complicated methods, such as brute-force search and/or branch-andbound algorithm that have exponential computational complexity. We, therefore, propose a meta-heuristic based on Tabu Search (TS) algorithm with a reduced computational complexity to globally find the near-optimal radio resource allocation solution

Radio resource allocation for overlay D2D-based vehicular communications in future wireless networks

Mobilfunknetze der nächsten Generation ermöglichen einen weitverbreiteten Einsatz von Device-to-Device Kommunikation, der direkten Kommunikation zwischen zellularen Endgeräten. Für viele Anwendungsfälle zur direkten Kommunikation zwischen Endgeräten sind eine deterministische Latenz und die hohe Zuverlässigkeit von zentraler Bedeutung. Dienste zur direkten Kommunikation (D2D) für in der Nähe befindliche Endgeräte sind vielversprechend die hohen Anforderungen an Latenz und Zuverlässigkeit für zukünftige vertikale Anwendungen zu erfüllen. Eine der herausragenden vertikalen Anwendungen ist die Fahrzeugkommunikation, bei der die Fahrzeuge sicherheitskritische Meldungen direkt über D2D-Kommunikation austauschen, die dadurch zur Reduktion von Verkehrsunfällen und gleichzeitig von Todesfällen im Straßenverkehrt beiträgt. Neue Techniken zur effizienteren Zuweisung von Funkressourcen in der D2D-Kommunikation haben in letzter Zeit in Industrie und Wissenschaft große Aufmerksamkeit erlangt. Zusätzlich zur Allokation von Ressourcen, wird die Energieeffizienz zunehmend wichtiger, die normalerweise im Zusammenhang mit der Ressourcenallokation behandelt wird. Diese Dissertation untersucht verschiedener Ansätze der Funkressourcenzuweisung und Energieeffizienztechniken in der LTE und NR V2X Kommunikation. Im Folgenden beschreiben wir kurz die Kernideen der Dissertation. Meist zeichnen sich D2D-Anwendungen durch ein relativ geringes Datenvolumen aus, die über Funkressourcen übertragen werden. In LTE können diese Funkressourcen aufgrund der groben Granularität für die Ressourcenzuweisung nicht effizient genutzt werden. Insbesondere beim semi-persistenten Scheduling, bei dem eine Funkressource über einen längeren Zeitraum im Overlay D2D festgelegt wird, sind die Funkressourcen für solche Anwendungen nicht ausgelastet. Um dieses Problem zu lösen, wird eine hierarchische Form für das Management der Funkressourcen, ein sogenanntes Subgranting-Schema, vorgeschlagen. Dabei kann ein nahegelegener zellularer Nutzer, der sogenannte begünstigte Nutzer, ungenutzten Funkressourcen, die durch Subgranting-Signalisierung angezeigt werden, wiederzuverwenden. Das vorgeschlagene Schema wird bewertet und mit "shortening TTI", einen Schema mit reduzierten Sendezeitintervallen, in Bezug auf den Zellendurchsatz verglichen. Als nächster Schritt wird untersucht, wie der begünstigten Benutzer ausgewählt werden kann und als Maximierungsproblem des Zellendurchsatzes im Uplink unter Berücksichtigung von Zuverlässigkeits- und Latenzanforderungen dargestellt. Dafür wird ein heuristischer zentralisierter, d.h. dedizierter Sub-Granting-Radio-Ressource DSGRR-Algorithmus vorgeschlagen. Die Simulationsergebnisse und die Analyse ergeben in einem Szenario mit stationären Nutzern eine Erhöhung des Zelldurchsatzes bei dem Einsatz des vorgeschlagenen DSGRR-Algorithmus im Vergleich zu einer zufälligen Auswahl von Nutzern. Zusätzlich wird das Problem der Auswahl des begünstigten Nutzers in einem dynamischen Szenario untersucht, in dem sich alle Nutzer bewegen. Wir bewerten den durch das Sub-Granting durch die Mobilität entstandenen Signalisierungs-Overhead im DSGRR. Anschließend wird ein verteilter Heuristik-Algorithmus (OSGRR) vorgeschlagen und sowohl mit den Ergebnissen des DSGRR-Algorithmus als auch mit den Ergebnissen ohne Sub-Granting verglichen. Die Simulationsergebnisse zeigen einen verbesserten Zellendurchsatz für den OSGRR im Vergleich zu den anderen Algorithmen. Außerdem ist zu beobachten, dass der durch den OSGRR entstehende Overhead geringer ist als der durch den DSGRR, während der erreichte Zellendurchsatz nahe am maximal erreichbaren Uplink-Zellendurchsatz liegt. Zusätzlich wird die Ressourcenallokation im Zusammenhang mit der Energieeffizienz bei autonomer Ressourcenauswahl in New Radio (NR) Mode 2 untersucht. Die autonome Auswahl der Ressourcen wird als Verhältnis von Summenrate und Energieverbrauch formuliert. Das Ziel ist den Stromverbrauch der akkubetriebenen Endgeräte unter Berücksichtigung der geforderten Zuverlässigkeit und Latenz zu minimieren. Der heuristische Algorithmus "Density of Traffic-based Resource Allocation (DeTRA)" wird als Lösung vorgeschlagen. Bei dem vorgeschlagenen Algorithmus wird der Ressourcenpool in Abhängigkeit von der Verkehrsdichte pro Verkehrsart aufgeteilt. Die zufällige Auswahl erfolgt zwingend auf dem dedizierten Ressourcenpool beim Eintreffen aperiodischer Daten. Die Simulationsergebnisse zeigen, dass der vorgeschlagene Algorithmus die gleichen Ergebnisse für die Paketempfangsrate (PRR) erreicht, wie der sensing-basierte Algorithmus. Zusätzlich wird der Stromverbrauch des Endgeräts reduziert und damit die Energieeffizienz durch die Anwendung des DeTRA-Algorithmus verbessert. In dieser Arbeit werden Techniken zur Allokation von Funkressourcen in der LTE-basierten D2D-Kommunikation erforscht und eingesetzt, mit dem Ziel Funkressourcen effizienter zu nutzen. Darüber hinaus ist der in dieser Arbeit vorgestellte Ansatz eine Basis für zukünftige Untersuchungen, wie akkubasierte Endgeräte mit minimalem Stromverbrauch in der NR-V2X-Kommunikation Funkressourcen optimal auswählen können.Next-generation cellular networks are envisioned to enable widely Device-to-Device (D2D) communication. For many applications in the D2D domain, deterministic communication latency and high reliability are of exceptionally high importance. The proximity service provided by D2D communication is a promising feature that can fulfil the reliability and latency requirements of emerging vertical applications. One of the prominent vertical applications is vehicular communication, in which the vehicles disseminate safety messages directly through D2D communication, resulting in the fatality rate reduction due to a possible collision. Radio resource allocation techniques in D2D communication have recently gained much attention in industry and academia, through which valuable radio resources are allocated more efficiently. In addition to the resource allocation techniques, energy sustainability is highly important and is usually considered in conjunction with the resource allocation approach. This dissertation is dedicated to studying different avenues of the radio resource allocation and energy efficiency techniques in Long Term Evolution (LTE) and New Radio (NR) Vehicle-to-Everythings (V2X) communications. In the following, we briefly describe the core ideas in this study. Mostly, the D2D applications are characterized by relatively small traffic payload size, and in LTE, due to coarse granularity of the subframe, the radio resources can not be utilized efficiently. Particularly, in the case of semi-persistent scheduling when a radio resource is scheduled for a longer time in the overlay D2D, the radio resources are underutilized for such applications. To address this problem, a hierarchical radio resource management scheme, i.e., a sub-granting scheme, is proposed by which nearby cellular users, i.e., beneficiary users, are allowed to reuse the unused radio resource indicated by sub-granting signaling. The proposed scheme is evaluated and compared with shortening Transmission Time Interval (TTI) schemes in terms of cell throughput. Then, the beneficiary user selection problem is investigated and is cast as a maximization problem of uplink cell throughput subject to reliability and latency requirements. A heuristic centralized, i.e., dedicated sub-granting radio resource Dedicated Sub-Granting Radio Resource (DSGRR) algorithm is proposed to address the original beneficiary user selection problem. The simulation results and analysis show the superiority of the proposed DSGRR algorithm over the random beneficiary user selection algorithm in terms of the cell throughput in a scenario with stationary users. Further, the beneficiary user selection problem is investigated in a scenario where all users are moving in a dynamic environment. We evaluate the sub-granting signaling overhead due to mobility in the DSGRR, and then a distributed heuristics algorithm, i.e., Open Sub-Granting Radio Resource (OSGRR), is proposed and compared with the DSGRR algorithm and no sub-granting case. Simulation results show improved cell throughput for the OSGRR compared with other algorithms. Besides, it is observed that the overhead incurred by the OSGRR is less than the DSGRR while the achieved cell throughput is yet close to the maximum achievable uplink cell throughput. Also, joint resource allocation and energy efficiency in autonomous resource selection in NR, i.e. Mode 2, is examined. The autonomous resource selection is formulated as a ratio of sum-rate and energy consumption. The objective is to minimize the energy efficiency of the power-saving users subject to reliability and latency requirements. A heuristic algorithm, density of traffic-based resource allocation (DeTRA), is proposed to solve the problem. The proposed algorithm splits the resource pool based on the traffic density per traffic type. The random selection is then mandated to be performed on the dedicated resource pool upon arrival of the aperiodic traffic is triggered. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves the same packet reception ratio (PRR) value as the sensing-based algorithm. In addition, per-user power consumption is reduced, and consequently, the energy efficiency is improved by applying the DeTRA algorithm. The research in this study leverages radio resource allocation techniques in LTE based D2D communications to be utilized radio resources more efficiently. In addition, the conducted research paves a way to study further how the power-saving users would optimally select the radio resources with minimum energy consumption in NR V2X communications