Network-Assisted D2D Relay Selection Under the Presence of Dynamic Obstacles

Millimeter wave (mmWave) channels in device to device (D2D) communication are susceptible to blockages in spite of using directional beams from multi-input multi-output (MIMO) antennas to compensate for high propagation loss. This motivates one to look for the presence of obstacles while forming D2D links among user equipments (UEs) which are in motion. In D2D communication, moving UEs also act as relays to forward data from one UE to another which introduces the problem of relay selection. The problem becomes more challenging when the obstacles are also in motion (dynamic obstacles) along with the moving UEs. First we have developed a probabilistic model for relay selection which considers both moving UEs and dynamic obstacles. Then we have analyzed the probability of dynamic obstacles blocking a link in 3D Euclidean space by exploiting the information from MIMO radar connected to the base station. Finally, using this information, we have developed unique strategies based on simple geometry to find the best relay which maximizes the expected data rate. Through simulations we have shown that our proposed strategy gives a significant improvement in packet loss due to mobility of nodes and dynamic obstacles in a mmWave channel over the traditional approaches which do not consider dynamic obstacle's presence.