Synchronized SCUBA: D2D Communication for Out-of-Sync Devices

Abstract: Device-to-device (D2D) communication is an essential component enabling connectivity for the Internet-of-Things (IoT). SCUBA, which stands for Sidelink Communication on Unlicensed Bands, is a novel medium access control protocol that facilitates D2D communications on the sidelink for IoT and machine-type communication (MTC) cellular devices. SCUBA includes support for direct peer-to-peer communication on the unlicensed bands by operating in a time division multiplexed manner to coexist with the underlying primary radio access technology, e.g., long term evolution - MTC (LTE-M). A fundamental requirement in the current version of SCUBA is that the communicating devices are to be synchronized with each other so that timing occasions of the devices can be accurately estimated by each other. However, when the devices are out of sync with each other, which may be caused due to one or more of the devices being out of cellular coverage region or are being served by different base stations, typically observed in mobile devices, operation of legacy SCUBA fails. To this end, we design synchronization methods to establish successful SCUBA links between devices that are out-of-sync with each other. Due to the inherent timing discovery embedded in our method, our solution also extends the operating range of SCUBA by eliminating its reliance on timing-agnostic communication. We analyze and compare the performance of our methods in terms of power consumption and the resultant impact on device battery life to show the potential of our solutions.