Optimal transmission mode proportion for heterogeneous networks of cellular and device-to-device communications

This paper discusses about the optimal mode allocation for the heterogeneous networks, in which the network can schedule users working in the device-to-device (D2D) mode or cellular mode. The D2D user is allowed to reuse the uplink resource of cellular system and the problem is formed as a sum-capacity optimization issue with outage constraints for both cellular and D2D links. The method for the optimal user proration is proved to be divided into three cases according to the total user density: when the total user density is small, the optimal proration trends to all users utilizing one mode; when the total user density is large, the optimal proration is all of users choosing D2D mode; and when the total user density situates in the between, there is a unique optimal transmission mode proportion for the hybrid networks to maximize its sum- capacity. The simulation results demonstrate the validity of the conclusions in the analysis part.