Energy-Efficient Localization-Based Link Setup Scheme for Device-to-Device Communications

A new energy efficient link setup scheme for device-to-device (D2D) communications in cellular networks is proposed that employs approximate localization easily performed using new radio technologies. To set up a D2D link, the obtained location estimates are used to judge whether two user-devices can be a D2D pair, and to control the transmit power between two devices, taking into account the accuracy of the estimated distance between them. Simulation results show that the scheme not only removes the neighbor discovery step, leading to faster setup, but also significantly improves energy efficiency and resource block utilization, while maintaining a high success probability for the D2D discovery and communication setup.