Handover Management for D2D Communication in 5G Networks

This study addresses the handover management issue for Device-to-Device communication in fifth-generation (5G) networks. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) drafted a standard for proximity services (ProSe), also named device-to-device (D2D) communication, which is a promising technology in offering higher throughput and lower latency services to end users. Handover is an essential issue in wireless mobile networks due to the mobility of user equipment (UE). Specifically, we need to transfer an ongoing connection from an old E-UTRAN Node B (eNB) to a new one, so that the UE can retain its connectivity. In the data plane, both parties of a D2D pair can communicate directly with each other without the involvement of the base station. However, in the control plane, devices must be connected to the eNB for tasks such as power control and resource allocation. In the current standard of handover scheme, the number of unnecessary handovers would be increased by the effect of shadowing fading on two devices. More important, the handover mechanism for D2D pairs is not standardized yet. LTE-A only considers the handover procedure of a single user. Therefore, when a D2D pair moves across cell boundaries, the control channels of the two UEs may connect to different base stations and result in increased latency due to the exchange of D2D related control messages. Hence, we propose a handover management scheme for D2D communication to let both parties of a D2D pair handover to the same destination eNB at the same time. By doing so, the number of unnecessary handovers, as well as the handover latency, can be reduced. In the proposed method, we predict the destination eNB of D2D users based on their movements and the received signal characteristics. Subsequently, we make a handover decision for each D2D pair by jointly factoring in the signal quality and connection stability. Expected improvement can be attained, as revealed in the simulation. Unnecessary handover can be avoided. Consequently, both UEs of a D2D pair reside in the same cell and, therefore, result in increased throughput and decreased delay.