Link-aware opportunistic D2D communications: Open source test-bed and experimental insights into their energy, capacity and QoS benefits

Device-to-Device (D2D) communications can efficiently support the growth in mobile data traffic by offloading part of the traffic from the cellular infrastructure. D2D communications are influenced by the propagation conditions between mobile devices that depend on the antenna heights, presence of obstacles, and mobility of devices. Analytical and simulation studies have shown that link-aware opportunistic transmission schemes can improve the reliability and efficiency of D2D communications. This paper goes a step further and experimentally demonstrates the energy, capacity and Quality of Service (QoS) benefits of link-aware opportunistic D2D communications. This is done through a novel test-bed that is here presented and released open source to the community. The developed test-bed modifies the Linux kernel so that it is independent of the particular hardware being used and can be utilized with Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) equipment.