A resource allocation scheme for device-to-device multicast in cellular networks

The potential of device-to-device (D2D) technology to support multicast services in LTE-Advanced networks has been recently realized. D2D communication brings great benefits to cellular networks in terms of enhanced spectral efficiency and larger coverage by enabling the devices to communicate directly with each other. D2D communication may lead to improved network capacity by sharing resources with cellular users (CUs). However, the resulting mutual interference may decrease or even outweigh the gain of D2D communication. In this paper, we propose a scheme to minimize the interference among D2D and CUs through a resource allocation scheme. We formulate the uplink resource allocation problem where a D2D multicast group can reuse resources of CUs under the constraint that the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) requirements of CUs and D2D users are satisfied. We analyze a joint power and channel allocation scheme to maximize the total throughput of CUs and D2D users. The performance of D2D communication depends on maximum power constraint for the D2D users. Simulation results establish the efficacy of the proposed scheme.