A Joint Power Control and Resource Allocation Algorithm for D2D Communications

We consider the problem of joint power control, signal-to-noise-and-interference-ratio (SINR) target setting, mode selection and resource allocation for cellular network assisted device-to-device (D2D) communications. This problem is important for fourth generation systems, such as the release under study of the Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) system standardized by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). While previous works on radio resource management (RRM) algorithms for D2D communications dealt with mode selection and power control, the problem of resource allocation for the integrated cellular-D2D environment and in particular the joint problem of mode selection, resource allocation and power allocation has not been addressed. We propose a utility function maximization approach that allows to take into account the inherent trade off between maximizing spectrum efficiency and minimizing the required sum transmit power. We implement the proposed RRM algorithms in a realistic system simulator and report numerical results that indicate large gains of D2D communications both in terms of spectrumand energy efficiency.