A Relay-Aided Device-to-Device-Based Load Balancing Scheme for Multitier Heterogeneous Networks

As a key feature of the next generation wireless networks (5G), heterogeneous networks (HetNets) architecture is embraced as the fundamental network technology to meet the immensely diverse service requirements and characteristics of various devices. By introducing underlaying device-to-device (D2D) communication into HetNets, it is possible to offload the unevenly distributed load from the overloaded macrocell to the uncongested femtocell in multitier HetNets. However, the performance of load balancing (LB) scheme heavily depends on the D2D relay selection method as well as the potential resource reuse interference brought by underlay D2D relaying. In order to improve resources utilization ratio and mitigate the resource reuse interference, an LB strategy based on D2D relaying is proposed. To accommodate more new users into the already overloaded macrocell, the macro user equipment with poor link quality will be first transferred into nearby uncongested femtocells by D2D relaying. Then, the released macrocell resource can be allocated to new users who cannot access femtocell due to location restriction. Furthermore, we also propose a two-stage relay selection and resource allocation scheme which not only minimizes the potential interference caused by resource reuse but also guarantees the transmission requirement of different users. Extensive simulation results demonstrate that by taking advantage of D2D relaying, the proposed LB algorithm can effectively adjust the unbalanced load between macrocell and femtocells, which achieves improved performance of the whole HetNets.