Energy-Efficient Device Discovery in D2D Networks
Summary
Device-to-Device (D2D) networks enable direct communication between proximate wireless devices, alleviating load on central infrastructure and reducing end-to-end latency. The initial stage of any D2D session is device discovery, during which nodes identify neighbours through periodic beacon transmissions or scanning processes. While discovery underpins services ranging from Internet of Things deployments to vehicular safety systems, it can incur substantial energy drain on battery-powered devices. Recent research has therefore concentrated on protocols and algorithms that minimise power consumption without sacrificing discovery accuracy or responsiveness. Key approaches include adaptive beacon scheduling, event-driven wake-up schemes, compressed sensing and sparse signal processing, dynamic resource allocation, and interference-aware multi-access strategies. Both centralised and decentralised architectures are under investigation to balance signalling overhead against robustness in dense or mobility-rich environments. The resulting gains in energy efficiency support practical deployment of D2D in smart cities, industrial monitoring, emergency response and next-generation wireless networks.
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Energy-Efficient Device Discovery in D2D Networks publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in energy-efficient device discovery in d2d networks across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Device discovery: The process by which wireless nodes identify and establish preliminary contact with neighbouring devices prior to data exchange.
Beaconing: Periodic transmission of short signals by a device to announce its presence and enable neighbour detection.
Signalling overhead: The additional control messages and coordination traffic required to manage discovery and maintain network state.
Interference cancellation: Signal processing techniques that separate overlapping transmissions to recover individual signals and improve detection reliability.
Non-orthogonal multiple-access: A method allowing multiple devices to transmit simultaneously over shared resources using distinct coding or modulation schemes to enhance discovery capacity.
References
- Device Discovery in D2D Communication: A Survey. IEEE Access (2019).
- Signaling Overhead Reduction Techniques in Device-to-Device Communications: Paradigm for 5G and Beyond. IEEE Access (2021).
- Swarm Optimization based Radio Resource Allocation for Dense Devices D2D Communication. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications (2018).
- Interference Cancellation Techniques for Device-to-Device Discovery in Out-of-Coverage Networks. IEEE Access (2021).
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