A survey on device-to-device (D2D) communication: Architecture and security issues

The number of devices is expected to radically increase in near future, with an estimate of above 50 billion connected devices by 2020. The subscribers demand improved data rates, with reduced latency and increased system capacity. To endure the rising demands, cellular networks need to undergo suitable changes. For fulfillment of the rising needs of users and efficient utilization of the available scarce resources, device-to-device (D2D) communication is being looked upon as an important emerging technology for present and future cellular networks. It allows peer-to-peer communication between users, with improved spectral efficiency, energy efficiency and system throughput. In this paper, a detailed survey on device-to-device (D2D) communications has been offered, along with the challenges which exist for D2D (like resource allocation, security, interference management etc.) to become a successful paradigm of wireless networks. In order to fulfill the subscriber needs, architecture has been proposed which assures overcoming the various implementation challenges of D2D communication. The paper largely focuses on security in D2D communication and the possible attacks to which the direct links are susceptible to. For ensuring a secure D2D communication, solution has been proposed, based upon Internet Protocol Security (IP Sec).