Matching Theory for Future Wireless Networks: Fundamentals and Applications

The emergence of novel wireless networking paradigms such as small cell and cognitive radio networks has forever transformed the way in which wireless systems are operated. In particular, the need for self-organizing solutions to manage the scarce spectral resources has become a prevalent theme in many emerging wireless systems. In this paper, the first comprehensive tutorial on the use of matching theory, a Nobelprize winning framework, for resource management in wireless networks is developed. To cater for the unique features of emerging wireless networks, a novel, wireless-oriented classification of matching theory is proposed. Then, the key solution concepts and algorithmic implementations of this framework are exposed. Then, the developed concepts are applied in three important wireless networking areas in order to demonstrate the usefulness of this analytical tool. Results show how matching theory can effectively improve the performance of resource allocation in all three applications discussed

Energy Efficiency and Sum Rate when Massive MIMO meets Device-to-Device Communication

This paper considers a scenario of short-range communication, known as device-to-device (D2D) communication, where D2D users reuse the downlink resources of a cellular network to transmit directly to their corresponding receivers. In addition, multiple antennas at the base station (BS) are used in order to simultaneously support multiple cellular users using multiuser or massive MIMO. The network model considers a fixed number of cellular users and that D2D users are distributed according to a homogeneous Poisson point process (PPP). Two metrics are studied, namely, average sum rate (ASR) and energy efficiency (EE). We derive tractable expressions and study the tradeoffs between the ASR and EE as functions of the number of BS antennas and density of D2D users for a given coverage area.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, to be presented at the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) Workshop on Device-to-Device Communication for Cellular and Wireless Networks, London, UK, June 201

Game-theoretic Resource Allocation Methods for Device-to-Device (D2D) Communication

Device-to-device (D2D) communication underlaying cellular networks allows mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to use the licensed spectrum allocated to cellular services for direct peer-to-peer transmission. D2D communication can use either one-hop transmission (i.e., in D2D direct communication) or multi-hop cluster-based transmission (i.e., in D2D local area networks). The D2D devices can compete or cooperate with each other to reuse the radio resources in D2D networks. Therefore, resource allocation and access for D2D communication can be treated as games. The theories behind these games provide a variety of mathematical tools to effectively model and analyze the individual or group behaviors of D2D users. In addition, game models can provide distributed solutions to the resource allocation problems for D2D communication. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the applications of game-theoretic models to study the radio resource allocation issues in D2D communication. The article also outlines several key open research directions.Comment: Accepted. IEEE Wireless Comms Mag. 201

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

Benchmarking Practical RRM Algorithms for D2D Communications in LTE Advanced

Device-to-device (D2D) communication integrated into cellular networks is a means to take advantage of the proximity of devices and allow for reusing cellular resources and thereby to increase the user bitrates and the system capacity. However, when D2D (in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project also called Long Term Evolution (LTE) Direct) communication in cellular spectrum is supported, there is a need to revisit and modify the existing radio resource management (RRM) and power control (PC) techniques to realize the potential of the proximity and reuse gains and to limit the interference at the cellular layer. In this paper, we examine the performance of the flexible LTE PC tool box and benchmark it against a utility optimal iterative scheme. We find that the open loop PC scheme of LTE performs well for cellular users both in terms of the used transmit power levels and the achieved signal-to-interference-and-noise-ratio (SINR) distribution. However, the performance of the D2D users as well as the overall system throughput can be boosted by the utility optimal scheme, because the utility maximizing scheme takes better advantage of both the proximity and the reuse gains. Therefore, in this paper we propose a hybrid PC scheme, in which cellular users employ the open loop path compensation method of LTE, while D2D users use the utility optimizing distributed PC scheme. In order to protect the cellular layer, the hybrid scheme allows for limiting the interference caused by the D2D layer at the cost of having a small impact on the performance of the D2D layer. To ensure feasibility, we limit the number of iterations to a practically feasible level. We make the point that the hybrid scheme is not only near optimal, but it also allows for a distributed implementation for the D2D users, while preserving the LTE PC scheme for the cellular users.Comment: 30 pages, submitted for review April-2013. See also: G. Fodor, M. Johansson, D. P. Demia, B. Marco, and A. Abrardo, A joint power control and resource allocation algorithm for D2D communications, KTH, Automatic Control, Tech. Rep., 2012, qC 20120910, http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-10205