Coordinated device-to-device local area networks: the approach of the China 973 project D2D-LAN

When research on the fifth generation mobile communications had just stepped into its startup period, a project called coordinated D2D-LAN was launched in China. The D2D-LAN project exemplifies information and optimization theory as the foundations for algorithms that provably enable seamless operation through combining cellular and mobile adhoc networks in license band. The core objective of the D2DLAN project is to bridge the gap between theory and practice, from wireless channel, physical, MAC, networking to application layers, for designing architectures and protocols to meet the data traffic surge problems. D2D-LAN leverages recent advances in wireless communications and signal processing, including the physical- layer network coding, utility optimization, and so on, which can exhibit vast potential for achieving high spectrum efficiency and full exploitation of communication resources. In this article, the application requirements, technological challenges, and some potential solutions are discussed. In particular, our recent results and key technologies employed in our demonstration system are detailed.