Frequency resource allocation strategy with QoS support in hybrid cellular and Device‐to‐Device networks

<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p>Hybrid networks, comprising a conventional cellular network overlaid with Device‐to‐Device (D2D), offer efficient way to improve system throughput. In this paper, a novel orthogonal frequency‐division multiple access channel‐assignment method is proposed for hybrid network. The proposed approach is optimal in terms of throughput and is subjected to a sensible QoS requirement, which guarantees that macrocell and D2D achieve a prescribed data rate and outage probability, respectively. Our solution consists of two phases. In the first phase, the minimum sub‐channels are allocated to the macrocell to satisfy their data rate requirements. This problem is mapped to the 0‐1 Knapsack Problem and solved by integer programming based Lagrange dual approach. In the second phase, the redundant sub‐channels are allocated to D2D pairs to maximize the throughput of D2D networks. An interference management scheme is proposed to guarantee the outage probability of D2D communications. A cluster is taken as the unit for frequency reuse among D2D pairs. The problem of clustering is mapped to the MAX <jats:italic>k</jats:italic>‐CUT problem in graph theory and is solved by graph‐based heuristic algorithm. Extensive simulations demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed solution compared with the existing scheme. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.</jats:p>