In the 5G era, cellular-based D2D (device-to-device) communication is predicted to make a real breakthrough in the development of the smart home industry as well as autonomous cars other technological advances.
D2D communications is an aspect of cellular networks that allows direct communication between two mobile users without going through a base station (BS) or core network. This process can occur on the cellular frequencies or unlicensed spectrum.
This is a radical departure from traditional cellular networks where all communications go through the base station even if communicating parties are in range for proximity-based D2D communication.
Device to device (D2D) communications enabled by 5G speeds and near real-time latency, will play a major role in mass interconnectivity of Internet of Things (IoT) devices around the world.
A typical application of D2D-based IoT enhancement is vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV). When running at high speeds, a vehicle can warn nearby vehicles in D2D mode before it changes lanes or slows down. According to the received warnings, nearby vehicles alert drivers or even automatically control the driving in an emergency situation so that drivers can react more quickly to reduce the number of traffic accidents.
Additionally, using D2D discovery technology, vehicles can reliably detect and identify specific vehicles nearby, such as those vehicles that may cause danger at intersections and those specific vehicles (school buses or vehicles carrying dangerous goods) that need special attention.
5G D2D can also be applied in other potential scenarios, such as multiuser MIMO enhancement, cooperative relaying, and virtual MIMO. In the traditional multiuser MIMO, base stations determine pre-coding weights based on respective channel feedback of terminals to create nulls and eliminate interference between users.
The potential is also there for D2D to solve problems in new wireless communication scenarios. In indoor positioning, terminals cannot obtain satellite signals when they are indoors. In this case the traditional satellite-based positioning does not work. However, in the D2D-based indoor positioning, pre-deployed terminals with given location information or common outdoor terminals with given position can determine the location of terminals to be positioned, and support indoor positioning in 5G networks at a low cost.
One very important benefit of D2D might be in assisting providers reduce 5G network access load. In a scenario where there are many terminals, low-cost terminals can access nearby special terminals in D2D mode instead of being directly connected to base stations. Through these special terminals, connections to the cellular network are established.
Want to know more? Tonex offers 5G Device to Device Communications, a 2-day course that covers the radio technology that enables devices to communicate directly with each other without any additional network infrastructure.
Additionally, Tonex offers 20 more cutting edge 5G Wireless courses with titles like:
LTE Advanced Pro Training (3 days)
5G Cybersecurity Bootcamp (4 days)
5G Wi-Fi Offload Training (2 days)
5G for Sales and Tech Sales (2 days)
Mobile Broadband Transformation Training Bootcamp (4 days)
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