On Relay Selection Schemes for Relay-Assisted D2D Communications in LTE-A Systems

Device-to-device (D2D) communication is a promising technique for traffic offloading in next-generation cellular systems. However, the use of only direct D2D communications limits the advantages of D2D communications due to relatively long separation distances or poor link quality between source and destination user equipments (UEs). Relay-assisted D2D communication was proposed as a supplement to direct D2D communications for enhancing traffic offloading capacity in long-term evolution–advanced (LTE-A) systems. This work aims to design a relay UE selection strategy for D2D communications, which improves D2D communication performance significantly. We propose a cross-layer relay selection scheme that considers several criteria jointly, including end-to-end data rate, relay-capable UE (RUE) remaining battery time, and end-to-end transmission delay on relay-assisted D2D path. We show how to leverage these criteria at an eNB performing relay selection in D2D communications. In particular, an end-to-end delay estimation model is established based on queuing theory. Simulation results validate the performance of the proposed scheme in terms of total amount of data transmitted under RUE remaining battery and end-to-end transmission delay.