QC²LinQ: QoS and Channel-Aware Distributed Link Scheduler for D2D Communication

We study a distributed link scheduling problem for device-to-device (D2D) communication considering the quality-of-service (QoS) requirements and time-varying channel conditions of D2D links. To this end, we first study an optimal centralized link scheduling problem maximizing the total average sum-rate while satisfying the QoS requirements of D2D links. We then abstract the important scheduling principles of the optimal link scheduling, i.e., giving more chance to be scheduled to the links which have a good channel condition and do not satisfy the QoS requirement, in order to utilize them to develop distributed link scheduling algorithms. With the scheduling principles, we develop a procedure with which D2D links can share their degree of QoS unsatisfaction and channel condition with each other and generate their scheduling priorities according to the shared information in a distributed manner. We also develop a novel distributed link scheduling criterion with which D2D links determine their link scheduling. By using them, we propose distributed link scheduling algorithms, QCLinQ and QC² LinQ, which have significantly smaller signaling overhead and low computational complexity compared with the centralized optimal link scheduling algorithm. Moreover, they closely meet the QoS requirements of D2D links while achieving significant sum-rate improvement over conventional distributed algorithms.