412 IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, VOL. 22, NO.

2, FEBRUARY 2018

Resource Allocation for Multiple Device-to-Device Cluster Multicast

Communications Underlay Cellular Networks
Jong-ho Kim , Student Member, IEEE, Jingon Joung , Senior Member, IEEE,
and Jeong Woo Lee, Member, IEEE
Abstract— A practically efficient resource allocation scheme
is designed for multiple device-to-device cluster (D2DC) multicast
communications underlay cellular networks. The transmit power
and the channel are allocated to D2DC to maximize the sum
effective throughput provided that the cellular communications
maintain a certain level of quality of service. We devise a
channel allocation scheme using partial information of device
locations. For this, we derive the outage probability and an
effective throughput of D2DC communications in approximate
forms. Numerical results reveal that, when the number of D2DC
receivers is large, the proposed scheme achieves the near optimal
sum effective throughput, which can be obtained by using full
information of device locations.
Index Terms— D2D, cluster, multicast, resource allocation,
outage probability, effective throughput.
I. I NTRODUCTION
T O ACCOMMODATE more users in cellular networks
sustaining high spectral efficiency, the device-to-
device (D2D) communication utilizing spectrum resources,
which are already assigned to cellular devices, was intro-
duced [1]. Regarding D2D communications, the resource
allocation has been mainly studied for D2D underlay
cellular networks in various aspects, such as energy efficiency
maximization with joint power control of devices [2] and
overall sum rate maximization for multiple D2D pairs [3], [4],
for D2D groups [5], and for vehicle to everything networks [6].
Content dissemination over congested D2D networks was
studied from a perspective of medium access control layer [7],
where energy efficient strategies using game theory were
developed. The multicast D2D communication overlaid on
cellular networks was studied in terms of a coverage prob-
ability and the mean number of covered receivers [8]. The
spatial modeling of cellular networks and D2D networks
was also accomplished comprehensively [8]–[10]. There exist
increasing demands for data dissemination from a data source
to multiple nearby devices such as local file transfer, local
advertisement, and data sharing for group driving. Since the
corresponding networks do not need to last long, the multicast
over clustered D2D networks established temporarily is con-
sidered a suitable technology for this communication scenario.
In this letter, we define the device-to-device cluster (D2DC)
multicast, in which common data is multicast from a
Manuscript received November 7, 2017; accepted December 3, 2017. Date
of publication December 7, 2017; date of current version February 9, 2018.
This work was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through
the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of
Education (NRF-2016R1D1A1B03933174, NRF-2016R1D1A1B03930250).
The associate editor coordinating the review of this letter and approving it
for publication was E. Bedeer. (Corresponding author: Jeong Woo Lee.)
The authors are with the School of Electrical and Electronics Engi-
neering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756, South Korea (e-mail:
scheinen@cau.ac.kr; jgjoung@cau.ac.kr; jwlee2@cau.ac.kr).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LCOMM.2017.2780819
1558-2558 © 2017 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Fig. 1. System model of D2DC multicast communications underlay cellular
networks.
cluster-head to multiple devices through D2D underlay cel-
lular networks. Here, each cluster disseminates distinct data
internally. We define the outage of clusters and effective
throughput (ET) of D2DC communications. We then design
a practically efficient resource allocation scheme for multiple
D2DCs in the presence of multiple channels occupied by
cellular links. Channels and transmit power are allocated to
clusters to maximize the sum ET of D2DC communications
provided that the cellular outage is limited by its target
value. Note that most of previous studies utilized the location
knowledge of all D2D devices for resource allocation; thus,
they may experience high system overhead with increase in the
number of D2D devices. As a solution, we propose a practical
channel allocation (CA) scheme using partial information of
device locations (CA-PIL). This can significantly reduce the
amount of required system overhead compared with the CA
scheme using full information of device locations (CA-FIL).
The proposed CA-PIL scheme achieves the near optimal sum
ET obtained by CA-FIL when a large number of D2D devices
operate in the clusters: this is a typical scenario in future
networks.
II. S YSTEM M ODEL
We consider a circular-shaped single cell with radius rc ,
in which an evolved Node B (eNB) is located at the center
and receives data from K cellular users (CUs) over distinct
channels, i.e., cellular uplink communications. We let both
CU and the cellular channel occupied by CU be indexed by
k = 1, · · · , K . In the cell, M D2D transmit devices
(DTxs) exist, each of which forms a circular-shaped cluster,
i.e., D2DC, as illustrated in Fig. 1. We let both DTx and
its corresponding D2DC be indexed by m = 1, · · · , M.
The D2DC m has radius rm . The DTx m multicasts common
data to Nm D2D receive devices (DRxs) located in cluster m.
Let b(c, r ) denote a disc of radius r whose center is located
at point c. By defining the location of eNB as origin o in
a two-dimensional space, the cell is represented by b(o, rc ).
Denoting the location of DTx m by ymD , we can represent
KIM et al.: RESOURCE ALLOCATION FOR MULTIPLE D2DC MULTICAST COMMUNICATIONS 413

cluster m by b(ymD , rm ). We model the locations of CUs where γc is the threshold for defining the cellular link outage.
and DTxs as a uniform binomial point process (BPP) [10], It is straightforward to obtain the outage probability of DRx
where K CUs and M DTxs are independently and uniformly n in cluster m over channel k as
distributed in b(o, rc ). We also model the locations of DRxs  
ρmn
k
= Pr γmnk
< γd
in each cluster m as a uniform BPP, where Nm DRxs are
−α

independently and uniformly distributed in b(ymD , rm ). The Pmk dmn σw2 γd
locations of CU k and DTx m, denoted by ykC and ymD , = 1− −α −α exp − k −α , (7)
Pmk dmn + Pkk dkn γd Pm dmn
respectively, where k = 1, · · · , K and m = 1, · · · , M, have
the probability density functions (pdf) as where γd is the threshold for defining the outage of individual
⎧ D2D links. We define the outage of D2DC m as the event
⎨ 1 , if y ∈ b(o, r ) in which the average rate of transmission from DTx to Nm
c
f yC (y) = f ymD (y) = πrc2 (1) DRxs is below the target rate Rtgt . The outage probability of
k ⎩
0, otherwise. cluster m over channel k is then defined as
   
Likewise, the location of DRx n in cluster m, denoted by ynm , 1 Nm
ρm  Pr
k
log2 1 + γmn < Rtgt ,
k
(8)
where n = 1, . . . Nm , has the pdf as Nm n=1
⎧
⎨ 1 , if y ∈ b(y D , r ) where Rtgt = log2 (1+γd ). We also define the ET of cluster m
f ynm (y) = πrm2
m m
(2) over channel k as Rtgt (1 − ρmk ).
⎩
0, otherwise. III. R ESOURCE A LLOCATION FOR D2DC M ULTICASTING
The D2DC communication is allowed by sharing a channel The D2DC is allowed to multicast data in underlay cellular
with only one CU during the uplink period of cellular com- networks over channel k only when it does not violate the
munications, where different D2DCs use distinct channels. required cellular outage probability that is assumed to be
We consider a centralized control by the eNB for cellular prefixed in the cellular network by ρ̄ B . Thus, the transmit
networks and D2DC communications. power of DTx m is limited as Pmk ≤ min(Pmmax , P̆mk )  P̄mk ,
Let s X denote a transmit symbol of device X and d X Y where P̆mk is the value of Pmk resulting in ρ kB = ρ̄ B and is
denote the distance between devices X and Y . Further, let obtained by manipulating (6) as
PXk denote the transmit power of device X over channel k   
Pkk dk−α 1 σw2 γc
with the maximum value of PXmax . In addition, let h kX Y P̆m =
k B
exp − k −α − 1 . (9)
denote the gain of channel k from X to Y associated with γc dm−αB 1 − ρ̄ B Pk dk B
small-scale fading, where h kX Y is independent and identically
We define a CA indicator, δm k ∈ {0, 1}, such that δ k = 1
m
distributed (i.i.d.) circular symmetric complex Gaussian with
if channel k is allocated to cluster m, and δm k = 0 otherwise.
zero mean and unit variance. The large-scale fading with the
We determine δm k for all pairs of k and m to maximize the sum
log-distance model is determined by d X−αY , where α is a path
ET of all clusters in the cell; we choose Pmk = P̄mk for each
loss exponent.
pair of m and k to maximize the ET of each D2DC. After the
Consider DTx m multicasting sm over channel k. The
power allocation, the CA for D2DCs is determined by solving
received signal at DRx n in cluster m over channel k is written
the following optimization problem:
as
  M K
−α −α max δm
k
Rtgt (1 − ρmk ) (10a)
k
ymn = h kmn Pmk dmn sm + h kkn Pkk dkn sk + wn , (3) k ∈{0,1}
δm
m=1 k=1
K
where wn denotes the circular symmetric complex white s.t. δ k ≤ 1, ∀m = 1, · · · , M, (10b)
Gaussian noise at DRx n with zero mean and the variance k=1 m
M
of σw2 . Then, the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) δ k ≤ 1, ∀k = 1, · · · , K , (10c)
k is obtained by m=1 m
of ymn M K
−α
δ k ≤ min(K , M). (10d)
|h kmn |2 Pmk dmn m=1 k=1 m
γmn
k
= −α . (4) When solving (10a) through a classical bipartite matching
|h kkn |2 Pkk dkn + σw2
algorithm, such as the Hungarian algorithm [12], the eNB
Similarly, the SINR of the received signal at the eNB, denoted should know the locations of all devices in the cell to obtain
by B, over channel k is defined as ρmk via dmn and dkn . This incurs a heavy system overhead.
|h kk B |2 Pkk dk−α
B
Here, we define the system overhead as the number of col-
γkkB = . (5) lection activities of eNB for locations of devices. This issue
|h km B |2 Pmk dm−αB + σw2 motivates us to devise a practically efficient CA scheme with
Let ρ kB denote the outage probability of the link from CU k marginal performance loss and acceptable system overhead.
to eNB B, which is written as follows [11]:
  A. CA Using Full Information of Device Locations (CA-FIL)
ρ kB = Pr γkkB < γc In case that the eNB knows the locations of all DRxs, DTxs,
 and CUs, the optimization (10a) can be conducted by using
Pkk dk−α σw2 γc the exact form of ρmk . However, the closed forms for the pdf of
= 1 − k −α B
exp − k −α , (6) 1  Nm

Pk dk B + Pmk dm−αB γc Pk dk B Nm n=1 log2 1 + γ k
mn and the outage probability ρmk in (8)
414 IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, VOL. 22, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2018

cannot be obtained trivially, so it is a practical approach to

evaluate the value of ρmk in a numerical manner as follows.
Given locational information of all devices, the eNB obtains
the histogram of γmn
k through a sufficient number of random

generations of channel gains h kmn and h kkn . Then, the value

of ρmk is computed numerically from the histogram of γmn k ,

based on which the optimization (10a) is conducted. We will

call this scheme as the CA-FIL. Since the eNB requires
locations of all DRxs, DTxs and CUs, the CA-FIL scheme
requires (K + M(Nm + 1)) system overhead.
Fig. 2. Maximum sum ET obtained by (10a) with respect to Nm , where
ρ̄ B = 10−2 , K = M = 4, and rm = 30 m.
−α
B. CA Using Partial Information of Pkk dkm σ2 σw2
where A(r ) = k
P̄m r −α , B(r ) = P̄ k rw−α , C = B(r)
A(r) = P k d −α and
Device Locations (CA-PIL) ∞ e−t
m k km
Ei(z) = − −z t dt. For σm in (12), we can derive
k
We propose a practically efficient CA scheme, in which
 
the eNB does not require the locations of DRxs, where the 1
Nm
1
Nm  
locations of CUs and DTxs are still needed to obtain dkm by (σmk )2 = Var k
R̃mn = 2 k
Var R̃mn
the eNB. Thus, in the optimization process (10a), the proposed Nm Nm
n=1 n=1
scheme uses an approximate form of outage probability instead 1  
= Er {ψmr } − (μm )
k k 2
of an exact form ρmk . We will call this scheme as the CA-PIL. Nm
In general, the D2DC shares the channel with a CU located  rm 
1
in the far distance. Hence, it is reasonable to assume that = ψmr fr (x)d x − (μm ) ,
k k 2
(15)
Nm 0
dkn ≈ dkm for all n according to dkm  rm . We let γ̃mn k

denote an approximation of γmn in (4) obtained by using
k
where ψmrk = 2(log e)2 ∞ e−B(r)γ ln(γ +1) dγ as presented
2 0 A(r)γ +1 γ +1
dkn ≈ dkm , and we define R̃mn
k = log (1 + γ̃ k ). The outage
2 mn in the Appendix.
probability in (8) can then be approximated as The proposed CA-PIL uses ρ̃mk defined in (12) together
  with (13) and (15) instead of using the exact form of ρmk for the
1 Nm k
ρm ≈ Pr
k
R̃ < Rtgt . (11) optimization (10a). Since the eNB requires only the locations
Nm n=1 mn of DTxs and CUs, the system overhead is considered (K + M).
Consider an asymptotic case, in which Nm is sufficiently
 Nm k IV. N UMERICAL R ESULTS
large. By using the central limit theorem, N1m n=1 R̃mn Simulation parameters are as follows: rc = 500 m, Pkmax =
converges to a Gaussian random variable with a mean μkm 23 dBm, Pmmax = 15 dBm, σw2 = −104 dBm, α = 3.5, and
and a variance (σmk )2 . Then, for a large number of Nm , ρmk is γc = γd = 5 dB. We choose Pkk such that Pkk < Pkmax and the
further approximated as resultant cellular outage probability without D2D interference,
 that is ρ kB obtained through (6) with Pmk = 0, is smaller than
k k Rtgt − μkm ρ̄ B . We suppose identical Nm for all clusters. We randomly
ρm ≈ ρ̃m  1 − Q . (12)
σmk generate a sufficient number of combinations of {ykC }k=1 K ,
Nm
{ym }m=1 , and {yn }n=1 . For each combination, we determine
D M m
Under the assumption that the distribution of h kkn is identical Pmk = P̄mk . Then, we perform CA-FIL in a numerical manner,
k is also identically distributed with
for all n with a given k, R̃mn as explained in III-A and obtain the maximum (max) sum ET.
respect to n for a fixed k, and dmn = r . To obtain
 k μm in (12),
k
We also perform CA-PIL by using only {ykC }k=1 K and {ymD }m=1
M
let fr (x) be thepdf of r and define φmr = Eh R̃mn |dmn = r
k
to determine δm as introduced in Sec. III-B, during which
k

and ψmr k = E ( R̃ k )2 |d
h mn mn = r , where Eh {·} denotes the ρ̃mk is obtained by (12) and the max sum ET is computed
expectation over channel gains, namely, h kmn and h kkn . Then, through (10a). The resulting max sum ET will be marked as
μkm is derived as CA-PIL (analytic). With δm k determined optimally by CA-PIL,

  we compute the actual sum ET by using the numerical

1 Nm k    rm Nm
μm = Er
k
R̃ = Er R̃mn =
k
φmr
k
fr (x)d x, evaluation of ρkm in (8) for given {ynm }n=1 as in CA-FIL. The
Nm n=1 mn 0 resulting sum ET will be marked as CA-PIL (actual). Each of
(13) three kinds of results obtained above for all combinations is
averaged and depicted in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.
where Er {·} denotes the expectation over r and fr (x) = 2x/rm2 Fig. 2 shows the max sum ETs of CA-FIL and CA-PIL
because the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of r is
 2π (analytic and actual) with respect to Nm . Since CA-PIL is
π x2
Fr (x) = Pr{r ≤ x} = 0 f ynm (y) 12 x 2 dθ = πr 2 from (2) and based on the Gaussian approximation of the average rate, the
m
fr (x) = d Fr (x)/d x = 2x/rm2 . Here, φmr
k is expressed as (see analytic evaluation of max sum ET approaches the actual one
Appendix) as Nm grows. It is notable that even for a small Nm , CA-PIL
offers reasonable results for resource allocation. It is observed
k log2 e  B(r) 
that CA-FIL provides higher max sum ET than CA-PIL at the
φmr = e Ei (−B(r )) − eC Ei (−C) , (14)
A(r ) − 1 cost of Nm -fold higher system overhead. The max sum ET of
KIM et al.: RESOURCE ALLOCATION FOR MULTIPLE D2DC MULTICAST COMMUNICATIONS 415

A PPENDIX
−α
Let γ = |h |h 1 | P1 r
2
−α +σ 2 and F(γ ) be its CDF. It is known
2 | P2 d
2
w
} P2 d −α
that F(γ ) = 1 − exp{−B(r)γ 1+A(r)γ , where A(r ) = P1 r −α and
σ2
B(r ) = P wr −α [11]. Then, φmr k is obtained with the aid of
1
[13, eq. (3.352-4)] as
 
φmr
k
= E log2 (1 + γ )
∞  ∞
 log2 e
= log2 (1 + γ )F(γ )  − F(γ )dγ
γ =0 0 1+γ
 ∞ −B(r)γ
e log2 e
= dγ
A(r )γ + 1 γ +1
0   ∞ −B(r)γ  ∞ −B(r)γ
Fig. 3. Maximum sum ET of CA-PIL (actual) with respect to ρ̄ B , where e e
Nm = 100, K = M = 4 and rm = 20, 25, 30 m. = log2 e A(r ) dγ − dγ
0 A(r )γ + 1 0 γ +1
log2 e  B(r) 
= e Ei (−B(r )) − eC Ei (−C) .
A(r ) − 1
We also obtain
ψmr
k
 
= E (log2 (1 + γ ))2
∞ 
 ∞ loge 2
= (log2 (1+γ )) F(γ )
2  − 2 log2 (1 + γ ) F(γ )dγ
γ =0 0 1+γ
 ∞ −B(r)γ
e ln(γ + 1)
= 2(log2 e)2 dγ .
0 A(r )γ + 1 γ +1
Fig. 4. Maximum ET per active D2DC of CA-FIL and CA-PIL (actual) with
respect to M, where ρ̄ B = 10−2 , rm = 30 m, K = 4, 6, and Nm = 10, 100.
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