Discount Interference Pricing Mechanism for Data Offloading in D2D Communications

Offloading in device-to-device (D2D) communications is recognized as a promising solution for reducing the traffic load of cellular networks. However, in underlay D2D communications, the cellular users (CUEs) suffer from severe cross-tier interference from D2D users. To keep this interference under a certain limit, the cellular base station (CBS) controls the transmit power of D2D users by pricing the interference power generated at it on shared subchannels. Moreover, D2D users can help the CBS by sharing its content with nearby CUEs, after receiving monetary incentives from CBS. In this letter, we propose a discount interference pricing scheme for D2D offloading. In the proposed framework, the CBS encourages some users, acting as D2D transmitters to provide service to CUEs, thereby improving its overall economic efficiency. In exchange, the CBS provides D2D users a discount on the interference price. We utilize a two-stage non-cooperative game to analytically model this scenario. Simulations results affirm that both CBS and D2D users can benefit from such cooperation and significantly increase their utility by employing the proposed discount interference pricing mechanism.