A device-to-device service sharing middleware for heterogeneous wireless networks

Wireless devices with diverse capabilities are ubiquitous and will continue to flourish for the next foreseeable future. With cellular connectivity, each devicd is capable to utilize more necessary services. However, in some cases (e.g., public safety and disaster recovery) cellular connectivity may become unavailable. In these situations, device-to-device (D2D) communication can contribute to maintain connectivity as well as providing other services in terms of service sharing (e.g., SMS, Internet, camera) available in individual devices. This paper describes an approach where users can share wireless services with other users in a seamless manner. We develop a smart phone application, D2DMesh, for service sharing in a D2D manner. By using D2DMesh, users can get more work done via sharing, increase the spectrum utilization, create their own private networks without a centralized infrastructure and offload network traffic to a less congested network path. Our approach is platform-independent and is entirely implemented in user space. It allows sharing of services among neighboring devices over multiple hops without any help from the device vendors. We present results from initial experiments and show the effects of various important parameters on the performance of D2D service sharing.