Device-to-Device (D2D) Communications: Why do we need it for public safety?
D2D communication means that devices talk to each other to garner opportunities to perform end-to-end communications or transfers. A typical and old example people use to describe D2D is that why do our mobile phones have to synchronize and communicate with the base station if they are very close to each other, perhaps in the same room. The D2D argument has been to exploit such situations and harvest more out of the scarce spectrum by not bothering the spectrum with connections to the base station(s). The D2D argument goes even further.. What if our devices can do this opportunistic talking to each other over multiple hops. That will extend the reach of the base stations (and hence the Internet), right? Yes, this is true. However, not so easy. Many innovations across the protocol stack as well as hardware front end are needed. In our recently funded NSF project, we are taking a stab at research challenges involved in reaching such an environment where devices talk to each other, and ...