Resource allocation and power control based on user grouping for underlay device-to-device communications in cellular networks

Device-to-device (D2D) communications have emerged as a promising solution that can enable new wireless local services and can enhance the performance of wireless services in cellular networks. However, D2D links in a cellular network are difficult to establish because of mutual interference between cellular and D2D transmissions. Hence, it is of primary importance to devise a radio resource allocation scheme that can maximise the spectrum utilisation and at the same time minimise the impact of interference. In this article, we propose a novel resource allocation method for D2D communications underlaying cellular networks. The proposed method divides D2D pairs into several groups and allows spatially separated D2D users to belong to the same group so that they can exploit the same resource. An appropriate cellular device is selected to share its uplink resources with the D2D pairs in each group in such a way that an adequate signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio for both cellular and D2D links can be guaranteed. We also propose a power control strategy for D2D links in order to maximise the number of D2D pairs that can be served. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.