Blockchain Enabled Distributed Cooperative D2D Communications

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a blockchain (BC)-enabled relay selection method in distributed cooperative communication networks, where non-cell-edge users (NCEUs) consume transmit power to relay cell edge users (CEUs) for uplink transmission in exchange for payments from CEUs. The proposed BC-enabled relay selection method aims at eliminating the failure of cooperative device to device (D2D) communication while maintaining privacy protection. By exploiting BC in the probe-reply phase, both CEU request and NCEU reply messages can be recorded in a verifiable manner. Once the feedback messages are received, the next step is decision making, which can be implemented by a two-sided matching game, in which the players include the CEUs party and the NCEUs one. In addition, the information recorded on the BC contains not only the probe-reply messages but also the optimal matching profile (e.g., transmission power sequence of NCEUs and the corresponding payment sequence of CEUs) in the second phase. The simulation results show that the proposed method is improved compared with the traditional matching scheme.