Multicell Device-to-Device Communication: A Spectrum-Sharing and Densification Study

Abstract

One of the most significant fifth-generation (5G) technology enablers will be device-to-device (D2D) communication, which refers to the capability of direct communication between two or more devices without the intervention of a base station and constitutes a promising way to improve spectral, energy, and latency performance, exploiting the physical proximity of communicating devices and increasing resource utilization. Furthermore, network infrastructure densification has been considered to be one of the most substantial methods for increasing system performance, taking advantage of the base station proximity and spatial reuse of system resources. The question then arises: Could we improve system performance by leveraging these two 5G-enabling technologies together in a multicell environment? Also, how does spectrum sharing affect performance enhancement?