08332477

This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/COMST.2018.2820069, IEEE
Communications Surveys & Tutorials
IEEE COMMUNICATION SURVEYS & TUTORIALS, VOL. <VOL>, NO. <NO>, <MONTH> 2017 1
A Survey on Socially-Aware Device-to-Device

Communications
Manzoor Ahmed, Yong Li, Senior Member, IEEE, Muhammad Waqas, Muhammad Sheraz,
Depeng Jin, Member, IEEE, and Zhu Han, Fellow, IEEE.
Abstract—Device-to-device (D2D) communication is contin- proximity-based applications [2], [3]. D2D communication
uously evolving and engulfing a wide diversity of proximate is defined as direct communication between cellular user
services and applications, which is considered as one of the key equipments (UEs) without passing through cellular infras-
technologies in the 5G ecosystem. It is argued that direct com-
munications paradigm advantages may not be entirely captured tructures, conceived for long term evolution-advanced (LTE-
without embracing the concepts of the social-domain. Following A) under the 3GPP [4]. Today’s smart mobile devices with
the explosion of social networks and smart mobile devices, D2D capability having improved processing-power, memory,
social-interactions among mobile users enable the promotion of multiple antennas, multiple wireless interfaces, and radios can
D2D co-operations. In this article, we first present a systematic reinforce the network to deal with this extra demand. D2D
overview of the socially-unaware technical challenges and the
prospective applications to consolidate a background on D2D communications have proximity gains, which include high
communications. Next, all the social features utilized in tackling data rates, low power consumption, short delays, enhanced
and improving the technical issues and the applications are spectral efficiency, and increased network capacity.
briefed, respectively. Then, we provide a comprehensive survey On the other hand, social-interactions are now considered as
on socially-aware D2D communications, where various features a novel and imperative dimension in designing communication
of social-domain are leveraged such as ties, community, trust,
and selfishness to tackle the D2D technical issues and improve systems [5], [6]. The offline human-interactions (i.e., assisted
the performance of prospective D2D applications. We categorize by human encounter patterns), and the continuous growth
state-of-the-art socially-aware D2D communications into two of both online social networks (OSN) and mobile social
main sections. The first section considers technical issues, while networks (MSN), such as Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, Wechat,
the second section pertains to their applications to provide and WhatsApp respectively, enabled not only more real-world
insightful information and motivate more in-depth studies in this
area. For each aforementioned section, we overview technical data but also generated traces of human social-connections.
aspects and classify the core contributions based on approaches This information enables the researchers and engineers to
used and the social features utilized. In the discussion section, we examine, evaluate, and integrate the social elements into the
summarize the socially-aware D2D communications and present engineering systems’ design, in an unprecedented way [5]. In
lessons learned. Finally, we highlight the open research challenges fact, with the unprecedented increase of the OSN applications,
in this field and predict future research trends.
a huge number of people have involved actively in such
Index Terms—D2D Communications, socially-aware, trust,ties, online social-interactions. Hence, with every passing day, these
community, selfishness, resource allocation, Caching, computa- social-relationships among people connected online are thus
tional offloading, content dissemination.
extensively broadened and considerably enhanced [7]. This
has opened up new possibilities of cooperation among mobile
I. I NTRODUCTION nodes or D2D pairs. The concealed association disclosed by
the social networks can be further utilized to augment the
ELLULAR mobile communication networks have been
C expected to grow persistently in the foreseeable future.
According to the Cisco’s network index latest report, mobile
existing network performance.
Socially-aware paradigm refers to the discovering of in-
teraction patterns among socially connected users, and fur-
cellular phone shipments will reach 11.5 billion, coupled with
ther utilizing these patterns to design efficient solutions for
an anticipated mobile data traffic that will reach 367 EB by
the D2D communication network as illustrated in Figure 1.
2020 compared to that of 2015 [1]. In which, the local area
The social-context comprises of information deduced from
services and the social network services are considered as the
the offline, OSN and MSN profiles of users (e.g., likes or
key services that will contribute significant traffic. Keeping
comments, share photos, wall posts, and messages). This
in view the incessant mobile data traffic trend, it is difficult
information majorly pertains and depends on the resemblance
for the conventional cellular infrastructure to cope with the
among users’ interests (e.g., names in contact book and
demand of innovative mobile applications and new services in
followers in OSN), activities (e.g., discussions and reviews)
the near future.
and their relationships (e.g., kinship and friendship). It should
D2D communications underlying cellular networks, utiliz-
not be mixed with context-aware that refers to the ability
ing the same spectrum as cellular user (CU), is regarded
of a mobile users’ applications to discover and respond to
as a new paradigm with great potential for supporting the
changes in the environment they belong. These can be in
M. Ahmed, Y. Li, M. Waqas, M. Sheraz and D. Jin are with the user context, physical context or computing context [8]. The
Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, China (e-mail: research efforts on the convergence of social-awareness with
liyong07@tsinghua.edu.cn ). D2D communications are still in its infancy, and a number of
Zhu Han is with the University of Houston, TX 77004 USA, and also with
the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Kyung Hee University, challenges need to be dealt to make it practical and broadly
Seoul, South Korea. (e-mail: zhan2@uh.edu) acceptable. Allowing D2D communications to leverage social-
1553-877X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/COMST.2018.2820069, IEEE
2 IEEE COMMUNICATION SURVEYS & TUTORIALS, VOL. <VOL>, NO. <NO>, <MONTH> 2017
recent advances in the domain of socially-aware resource allo-

Physical Domain
2
4
7 cation and optimization for D2D communications. Moreover,
9
taxonomy was proposed based on the following attributes i.e.,
1 3 5 6 8 channel-centric, objectives, solving approaches, networking
technologies, characteristics, and communication types.
In this article, we report the first complete research ef-
fort that mainly focuses on social-interactions among D2D
users, and presents a comprehensive survey on socially-aware
4 D2D communications. We contributed to identifying different
2 7
9 features of social-domain that are leveraged for D2D net-
1 5 8
works, such as social-ties, social-community, social-trust, and
Social Domain 6
3 Social Domain selfishness. We further contributed to categorize state-of-the-
Strong Tie art socially-aware D2D communications’ research efforts into
Physical Connectivity Weak Tie
two main dimensions, i.e., technical and application domain
to provide insightful information and motivate more in-depth
Figure 1: An illustration of physical and social domains. In this
studies. In the technical domain, we categorize social-aware
figure, the upper part represents wireless devices’ connectivity
D2D communications’ technical problems into peer discov-
while the lower part describes their social-connections. Here,
ery and link admission, resource allocation and interference
in social domain, the solid lines represent the strong ties
management, throughput optimization, and energy efficiency.
characterized as trusted, and the dashed lines represent the
While in the application domain, we categorize socially-aware
weak ties.
D2D communications’ applications into caching and traffic
offloading, D2D content dissemination and computational of-
domain characteristics has great potential to tackle technical floading. For each domain, we overview technical aspects and
problems (i.e., peer discovery, resource allocation, interference classify the core contributions based on approaches used and
management, and throughput optimization) more efficiently. the social features utilized. Finally, we highlight the open
Moreover, the applications’ domain can be further enhanced by research challenges in the underlying field, lessons learned
the interaction of social-domain with D2D physical-domain as and predict future research trends. Therefore, we believe this
shown in Figure 1. This merger enables to improve the caching article will serve as a gateway for making further key advances
techniques, enhance cellular networks’ offloading scenarios, in this promising area of research.
ensure efficient social-content diffusion, improve and provide
The organization of the remaining survey is as follows.
better opportunities for task/computation offloading [6].
Section II provides a systematic overview of the existing
D2D communications have received tremendous attention socially-unaware D2D key technical issues and applications.
from researchers since its inception, and multiple surveys have In the same section, the social features utilized in the research
studied various aspects of D2D communications [9]–[13]. On efforts and its gains are presented. While Section III furnishes
scrutiny of the aforementioned surveys, it corroborates the fact the review of research contributions under the head of socially-
that existing state-of-the-art literature falls short of quantify- aware D2D communications’ technical problems and solu-
ing sociality’s impact on D2D communications. The merged tions. Section IV comprises of an in-depth literature review
D2D communications with social-domain aspect covering the on socially-aware D2D prospective applications. In Section V,
complete technical issues and the prospective applications we provide some discussions and summarize socially-aware
have never been surveyed before. To the best of authors’ D2D communications, followed by the lessons learned, some
knowledge, this is the first comprehensive survey on socially- technical challenges and the open issues. Finally, we conclude
aware D2D communications to bridge this glaring gap. The the paper in Section VI. Moreover, Figure 2 illustrates the
authors in [9] covered a broad literature review on several organization of the survey.
technical issues of D2D communications in LTE-A networks.
In [10], classification of D2D communications with respect to
inband and outband D2D communications is presented. While
in [11], the authors proposed the architecture to fulfill the II. OVERVIEW OF S OCIALLY-U NAWARE D2D
subscriber demands, and discussed D2D communication key C OMMUNICATIONS K EY T ECHNICAL P ROBLEMS ,
problems along with its integral technologies. These integral A PPLICATIONS , AND S OCIAL F EATURES
technologies include ultra-dense networks (UDNs), millimeter
wave D2D (mmWave), and cognitive D2D communications. In order to highlight the key technical challenges and
In [12], the social perspective is considered to solve various opportunities in D2D communications, this section briefly
problems for 5G networks combined with different network discusses the existing technical issues and applications without
technologies. These include internet of things (IoT), internet considering the social aspect. Following that, we introduce the
of vehicles (IoV), D2D communications, mobile-cloud com- identified social features utilized in D2D communications to
puting (MCC), smart grids and big data. However, socially- efficiently tackle technical issues, and improve the application
enabled D2D communication is never been summarized and areas of D2D communications. Finally, social-awareness prac-
discussed. Recently, the authors in [13] only examined the tical gains are presented along with the Section II summary.
MANZOOR et al.: A SURVEY ON SOCIAL-AWARE D2D COMMUNICATIONS 3
SUA D2D SA D2D Peer Discovery and SA D2D Caching and

Peer Discovery
Communications Link Admission Traffic Offloading
Technical Problems Summarization of
Resource Allocation SA D2D
Communication
SA D2D Resource SA D2D Computational
SUA D2D Interference Management
Allocation and Interference Offloading
Communication Security and Privacy Management
Applications
Energy Efficiency
Overview of SUA D2D

SA D2D Communications’
Communications’ Key Applications of SA D2D
Introduction Technical Problems and Discussion
Technical Problems and Communications
Solutions
Applications and Social
Section I Section V
Features Section IV
Section III
Section II
SA D2D Throughput
Social-Tie Optimization
Social Features Social-Community SA D2D Security and SA D2D Content

Lessons Learned
SA – Socially-Aware Privacy Ensurance Dissemination
Social-Trust
SUA – Socially-Unaware
Social-Awareness Technical Challenges
Gains Selfishness SA D2D Energy Efficiency
and Open Problems
Figure 2: Organization of socially-aware D2D communications survey

A. Socially-Unaware D2D Communications’ Technical Prob- energy efficiency [34]. We proceed with a brief conceptual
lems introduction to the D2D’s technical challenges, and next look
at the prospective D2D applications.
D2D communication is envisioned to operate under different
network technologies, which are categorized as licensed (i.e., 1) D2D Peer Discovery : For D2D communications, the
LTE-Direct and WiMAX-Direct) and unlicensed (i.e., WiFi- necessary element of D2D management is to discover the
Direct and Bluetooth) [10]. Moreover, both the LTE-Direct and potential D2D nodes in proximity. Generally, the peer dis-
WiMAX-Direct enable contention free scheduling and large covery process comprises of two phases, i.e., peer discovery
coverage area, unlike the WiFi-Direct and Bluetooth. Hence, initiation and peer discovery control [16]. The control of the
such technologies are deemed suitable for outdoor scenarios. peer discovery process can be network assisted or autonomous
Similarly, the Bluetooth and WiFi-Direct allow D2D commu- (UEs discover potential counterparts on its own). The network
nications, whereas Bluetooth has much shorter transmission assisted approach uses paging or other signaling. While in the
range than WiFi-Direct, hence, considered suitable for indoor autonomous approach, UEs transmit a known synchronization
scenarios. or reference signal sequence to mediate the discovery process.
Despite the various advantages obtained by D2D communi- Moreover, the network assisted approach (i.e., centralized
cations discussed in the aforementioned paragraph, there are nature) is more suitable as the network is aware of UE
still numerous technical issues involved with its implemen- locations. However, it suffers from high signaling overhead
tation. In D2D communications underlay cellular network, in comparison to the autonomous approach ( i.e., distributed
the mode selection problem implies selection of cellular nature). But the autonomous discovery process could drain
communication or direct D2D communication by using the more battery due to discovery process handling at UE level.
cellular resources. Prior to the mode selection process, each Peer discovery becomes even more challenging given the UE’s
node requires finding another proximity node through a peer limited battery capacity and processing capability. Hence,
discovery method. Subsequent to the mode selection process, energy efficient and low complexity peer discovery solutions
the system demands spectral resource allocation for both the are required.
CUs and D2D pairs accordingly. Also, the system controls 2) Resource Allocation: D2D communications underlying
the transmitting power and tackles the mutual interference mobile cellular network is a reasonably accepted option [35],
among the CUs and D2D pairs. By getting the instantaneous [36]. In the underlying setup, D2D pair shares the spectral
system load information along with channel conditions and resources of CUs and augments the system capacity. D2D
possible D2D pairs, the considered system is able to opt pairs and cellular communication links can share the licensed
for the optimal mode, apportion the resources, and control spectrum by using a non-orthogonal (underlay mode) or an or-
interference efficiently. Thus, the gains can be grasped led thogonal approach (overlay mode) [36]. The underlying mode
by D2D communications via proximity, hop, and reuse. So, admits D2D communication within the cellular network by
the key technical challenges are peer discovery [14]–[16], reusing the same frequency resource of CUs. On the contrary,
radio resource allocation [17]–[20], interference management the overlay mode allocates dedicated frequency resources for
[21]–[28], security of D2D communications [29]–[33], and D2D communications. CUs allocate resources either in the
uplink or downlink, or even both can be reused for D2D information becomes available to the public. There are also
communications as an underlay. As per the recent available some cases, where we need grouping mechanism based on
literature, the most common approach is to exploit the cellular relative distance and additional context data. Thus, the protec-
networks’ uplink spectral resources [37], [38]. The uplink tion mechanism for D2D communications must be considered.
radio resources are mostly underutilized as compared to the As proximate devices are more vulnerable due to the limited
downlink radio resources, because most CUs would rather computational capacity of mobile devices for security and
download data from the cellular network. In underlay mode, privacy related computation. D2D communications security
the system spectral efficiency can be improved drastically. and privacy issues are still an open challenge.
However, the interference caused due to the co-channel D2D 5) Energy Efficiency: A major concern that originates in
deployment with CUs becomes quite challenging. The existing cooperative D2D communications is the energy consumption
research looks at only the choice when the radio resources of mobile D2D nodes, as they are typically battery powered.
are applied statistically, without considering present load con- Therefore, from proximity peer discovery process to the design
ditions in uplink/downlink and interference patterns. Such of resource allocation schemes need to be energy efficient
dynamic features bring further complexity and challenges. [45]. Moreover, an additional challenge of power consumption
Hence, it requires designing of adaptive, efficient, simple, and has emerged due to the penetration of mobile social network
low-cost resource allocation approaches. based applications such as Facebook, Weibo, and Twitter.
3) Interference Management: Among different technical These applications generate a steady flow of data traffic that
challenges in D2D communications, interference management is continuously causing the mobile nodes to constantly shift
is considered as one of the most critical issues in the underlay between idle and connected states. Thus, such transitions
cellular networks. CU spectral resource sharing is the preferred from one state to another not only cost energy consumption,
mode to increase the overall system spectral efficiency but but also induce too much signaling overhead in the cellular
induces a severe interference problem [39]–[41]. For instance, system [35], [46]–[49]. Therefore, for D2D communications
when multiple D2D pairs and CU share the same spectrum successful implementation in practical scenario necessitates
portion, each observes an elevated interference. The intro- energy efficient solutions.
duction of D2D communications underlay cellular network
changes to two-tier infrastructure, which includes conventional
macrocell layer and D2D layer communication. However, the B. Socially-Unaware D2D Communications’ Applications
D2D layer is an unplanned and random distribution of D2D
nodes. This new architecture introduces significant gains in The emergence of affordable wireless smart devices, cou-
terms of system throughput, coverage, end to end latency, QoS pled with innovative applications and new services, brings
and energy efficiency if designed carefully. Nonetheless, it new challenges to cope with the explosive data growth rate in
brings in several technical challenges and issues for both D2D wireless cellular networks. D2D communication is anticipated
nodes and CUs in terms of interference management between to be one of the main supported technologies to offload the
the network elements in sharing (underlay) mode. Hence, the tremendous mobile traffic at the base station (BS) and future
system necessitates managing of new interference situations. proximity communication needs. It is envisioned that D2D
It is doubted that if such elevated interference is not properly communications’ scenarios will further flourish. This includes
controlled, it would deteriorate the prospective gains promised emergency, public safety circumstances and vehicle-to-vehicle
by D2D communication layer. (V2V) improved traffic safety situations. Moreover, it covers
4) Security and Privacy of D2D Communications: Due social-networking and peer-to-peer connections during cover-
to the exposed nature of wireless communication between age issue or in case of congestion. D2D communication is
D2D users, the information exchange between them becomes also considered economical and energy efficient, when sharing
more vulnerable to threats. The security threats comprise or disseminating specific contents between proximity wireless
of impersonation attack, threats related to data transmission devices or for other purposes such as online gaming [35].
and D2D users’ privacy [42], [43]. In addition, the greater Similarly, for disseminating information to multiple devices in
the number of D2D communication devices, the greater is close proximity, D2D enables broadcasts/multicasts or relays
the number of adversaries to attack the D2D networks. This traffic using intermediate devices to forward data to edge nodes
stresses the importance of security and privacy in the design involving multi-hoping. In addition, the surplus resources
of new wireless mobile communication. Furthermore, D2D (communication and computation) on cellular mobile devices
communication is mostly dynamic and the status of sur- can be utilized to stimulate beneficial cooperation among D2D
rounding environment may change frequently [44]. There are users [50].
numerous possibilities of communication that share data with Undoubtedly, D2D communication is a promising opportu-
diverse levels of sensitivity depending on context factors i.e., nity for the cellular network operators. It holds huge potential
social-relationship. We share our different data context during in contributing significant new revenue streams at the heart
D2D communications e.g., our location, time and spectrum of future internet services. These services include valuable
among different people. For example, consulting with friends, communication mode for public safety organizations and ex-
colleagues, and family is much less sensitive, because the citing commercial (e.g., marketing) use cases. It has enormous
information remained available among known people. On prospects to support the design of a wide range of new local
contrary, consulting a stranger is more sensitive, because the services for CUs that can bring new revenue opportunities.
C. Social Features and have prominent loads of data diffusion in comparison to

these links based on weak ties. For instance, the operator can
The wireless smart devices are used and carried by human access social-ties information via call detail reports, contact
beings, hence, they have dependencies and close associations lists, and also from OSN account activities via some applica-
with each other depending on their social-activities and prop- tions (APP). All such information can help in identifying the
erties. Further, the notion of social-networks in the wireless strength of the social-ties of a mobile user.
communication networks defines the structures and relations 2) Social-Community: Social-community is logically
among CUs, which includes social-ties, community, centrality, shaped by the social links among general population,
and bridge [7]. The social-ties recognize the strong or weak and it defines a real social group of individuals having
associations among the individual mobile users. Whereas, similar background, interests or behaviors [57]. In social-
social-community refers to the organization of mobile users networks, social-community is considered as one of the
in a cluster or group that share similar interests or behavior, key characteristics, where people in one community have
or having close social-ties in a neighboring area. Different similar interested contents. For instance, through online
from social-ties and social-community, centrality suggests the social network services, friends share information and content
significance of a “node” within a given network in terms of among them in the same community. Hence, a community
strong capability to connect other users or members. A bridge member is likely to get content from the same community
as its name implies acts as an interaction edge between any members with less effort, since they are expected to have
two adjoining communities, for communication and exchange a similar interest in the information or data. For D2D
of information leveraging social features. communications, utilizing the attributes of social-community
In cellular networks, the information of social-ties among structure leads to a range of advantages, including fast
the CUs can be acquired via online and offline schemes. peer discovery, improved resource allocation, and enhanced
From one point of view, the social-relationships of a user spectral efficiency.
can be found by exploring his/her account information and 3) Social-Trust: The notion of trust is also appealing to the
content sharing. Such as in [51], the authors have kept track network and the communication designers. In communication
of approximately 2.2 million users for around a month in the networks, we define the social-trust as a confidence level
OSN i.e., Sina Weibo, and discovered the list of all the sharing that one communication node can put on the other node
details for each micro-blog. In addition to this scheme, we can for a certain action according to earlier direct or indirect
also leverage the offline social networks to exploit the social- information, received from the reflections of behavior [59].
interactions, which is the representative social network shaped As a result, if the degree of trust among nodes is high,
by human mobility, such as get-togethers, seminars and group then the network will operate in a predefined manner. De-
meetings [52]. It is also discovered that individuals who are spite the fact, that in existing literature, there is no exact
in close proximity have alike trends of accessing and sharing definition of trust, but still there is an agreement on the
contents with one another. Similarly, the authors in [53] and following trust’s properties that can play an imperative role
[54] identified efficiently the disjoint communities, while the in modeling the trust. These properties include personalize
authors in [55] identified the social-community considering or subjective, asymmetric/symmetric, transitive/non-transitive,
realistic mobility traces of CUs. explicit/implicit, direct/indirect or recommended/hybrid, dy-
In this review, we sort out the following features that are namic, context-dependent, and generic/specific-situation [60],
utilized for addressing technical challenges and enhancing the [61]. The core concept of trust is defined as [62]:
performance of D2D’s applications. For better understanding,
these features are explained briefly followed by the social- Trust = Predictability + Dependability + Faith
(1)
awareness gains. +Competence + Responsibility + Reliability.
1) Social-Ties: The social-ties are defined as the associ- In D2D communications underlay cellular networks, the trust
ations among human beings, which are further applied for relations among communicating nodes are imperative in build-
sharing of knowledge, information, thought and experience. ing mutual and collaborative settings to optimize system
Social-ties can be recognized among human being through targets in terms of scalability, reliability, dependability and
kinship, friendship, fellow workers’ relationships, and selfless security. Utilizing the concept of social-trust for D2D com-
conducts observed in human actions [56], [57]. It is the most munications’ existing technical challenges and the application
fundamental and primary idea characterizing the strength or scenarios will bring a range of significant benefits.
power by which two persons are associated with one another. 4) Selfishness: A basic supposition in the mainstream of
The idea of tie-strength was first coined by Granovetter in 1973 existing mechanisms is that cellular mobile nodes are totally
[58], and categorized into the strong ties strength and the weak cooperative in communication. Nonetheless, in the practical
ties strength. Moreover, social-ties can be classified as strong, networks, it is observed that mobile nodes may not always
weak or latent established on the measure of exchanges and agree to transmit incoming information or data due to diverse
connections between them. In D2D communication networks, reasons, including resource limitations, privacy concerns, or
social-ties classify the weak or strong links among nodes, and social objectives. In other words, they may show selfishness
reflect to some extent the communication demands between in transmitting data to all or some nodes. Generally, selfish
D2D pairs. Such as the links considered to have strong-ties behaviors can be further categorized as socially-selfish and
may be anticipated to present more communication contacts, individually selfish [63].
technical issues, the authors in [71] leveraged reality trace.

From both the qualitative and quantitative evaluation in [71],
it is demonstrated that huge potential gains are possible in
a practical social-aware D2D communication system. These
include more efficient spectral usage, enhanced resource allo-
cation, eventually increased throughput, and coverage of the
D2D network. Moreover, the offloading and peer discovery
is significantly improved, better privacy and security can be
ensured. The authors in [72] utilized random networks and
real mobility traces to validate the proposed social-community-
aware D2D resource allocation framework based on social-
ties. Precisely, the numerical results show 93.54% performance
gain.
Summary: Recently, both academia and industry are
trying to explore and leverage social aspect in many other
network technologies to create a 5G socio-future network.
The technologies exploiting the social aspect include D2D
communications [6], [7], [72]–[76], IoT [77]–[87], IoV [88]–
Figure 3: The papers published in socially-aware D2D commu- [92], MCC [93]–[98], big data [99]–[102], smart grids [103]–
nications are chronologically displayed. These papers include [109], etc. Social-awareness among mobile users can promote
solutions of D2D technical issues, and novel techniques for im- D2D cooperation. Therefore, in this paper, we focus mainly
proving the D2D application areas leveraging social features. on social-interactions among D2D users and present a chrono-
These features include social-ties, social-community, social- logical development of the research contributions shown in
trust, and selfishness. Figure 3. Different features of social-domain are leveraged
to tackle the D2D communications’ technical issues and to
D. Social-Awareness Gains
improve D2D applications. Hence, these are summarized to
In the D2D communication networks, social-awareness can get an idea about the penetration of social aspect in the D2D
bring significant gains in addressing D2D technical issues communication domain. From Figure 3, we observe that since
(details are in Section III) and improving the applications 2013 researchers are keenly working on the social aspect for
(details are in Section IV). It has been exhibited through improving the application scenarios of D2D paradigm along
numerous studies that via social-awareness of mobile users, the with addressing its technical problems.
efficiency of D2D sharing and cellular network offloading can
be substantially improved [64]. For example, those users that
III. S OCIALLY-AWARE D2D C OMMUNICATIONS ’
are socially-close can exchange content files during frequent
T ECHNICAL P ROBLEMS AND S OLUTIONS
encounters, without relying on cellular infrastructures [65],
[66]. In [65], it is reported that up to 86.5% cellular offloading In Section II, we briefly review the D2D communica-
can be attained. tions’ technical issues and the applications without considering
Recently, through Xender platform in Asia, a large scale social-domain, which serve as the basics of D2D networks.
measurement and analytics on D2D-based content sharing The performance of D2D communications critically depends
is performed [67], [68]. Xender is recognized as a popular on node mobility patterns, behaviors, and social-interactions.
mobile application (APP) and the world’s largest D2D sharing Normally, mobile users build their social-connections via
platform. For analysis, they take into account approximately online and offline communications with intrinsic social struc-
30M (million) users with 443M D2D transmissions of 17M tures and mobility patterns in the social field. Furthermore,
files comprising of 884 thousand social-groups. It is revealed altruistic trends are found in numerous human social net-
that 40% aggregated traffic in Xender is redundant. This works [110], therefore, mobile users can exploit the social-
entails that a maximum number of mobile users demand trust and relations (apart from the family relationship) among
the same popular content files, particularly APPs and videos. their neighbors and office colleagues to cooperate with each
Further analysis detail the social structure properties, network other and further improve D2D communications. By applying
motifs and cascade trees of friendship that are useful for social-domain features, we can resolve the technical challenges
improving the service of social D2D sharing. Similarly, in [69], of D2D communications more efficiently. In this section, we
[70], the authors utilized real video traces to corroborate the describe the D2D technical issues, solutions, and techniques
significance of social-awareness (i.e., the social-trust and the based on social-awareness. We propose a categorization of
social-reciprocity). Through social-awareness clients are stim- socially-aware D2D communications’ technical problems as
ulated to help each other for restoring their unfinished video shown in Figure 4. This include peer discovery and link
frames, consequently, overall users’ quality of service (QoE) admission, resource allocation and interference management,
can be greatly enhanced. To establish the enormous potential throughput optimization, and energy efficiency. Considering
of exploiting the social-awareness paradigm (i.e., social-ties, the relevance and number of paper contributions, both peer
social-trust, community, and centrality) in addressing D2D discovery and link admission are combined together. Similarly,
Socially-Aware D2D Technical

Problems
Peer Discovery Based on Social

Trust
Community 2
Socially-Aware D2D Resource Community 1 Peer Discovery Based on Social
Socially-Aware D2D Peer Discovery
Allocation and Interference Community
and Link Admission
Management
Central Node Central Node
Socially-Aware D2D Throughput

Socially-Aware D2D Energy Efficiency
Optimization
Weak Tie Strong Tie Discovery Beacon
Figure 4: Categorization of technical problems in socially- Figure 5: An illustration of socially-aware D2D peer discovery.
aware D2D communications The upper part of the figure shows the social-ties and trust
scenario while the lower part of the figure represents social-
community based peer discovery.
resource allocation and interference management are highly
dependent on each other, thus, combined together. computations. Consequently, it reduces energy consumption
and also facilitates the core network by offloading the peer
A. Socially-Aware D2D Peer Discovery and Link Admission discovery process. Although, the proposed mechanism offers
D2D communication is an effective proximity based an improvement in peer discovery as compared to conventional
paradigm that enables a user to enjoy the benefits of direct direct mechanisms. However, it is suitable only for the users
communication with high data rates and low delays. However, having the same application subscriptions and interests, which
before availing such a favorable service, it is needed to find cannot cope more generalized D2D scenarios. Further, since
a suitable peer within the proximity as presented in Figure user devices are resource constrained, they cannot perform
5, which is a challenging task. There are several issues within challenging computations. A suitable solution is to delegate
this domain that needs to be coherently addressed. Trust is the the computation task to the cloud while not compromising
foremost issue that has attracted the attention of the scholastic user’s privacy. Focusing on this point, Mass et al. [113] put
community. To address this issue, Mao et al. [111] proposed forward a client-server system that utilizes the audio data of
a solution that suggests social and position based cooperation users having social-ties in order to automatically activate D2D
among users to select a trusted peer. In more detail, the communications among them. More specifically, the audio
authors introduced a joint closeness metric that measures the data is sent to the cloud to check whether the devices share
two-layered social position relationship in a unified manner. same proximity. Cloud performs machine learning analysis
After calculating the metric scores of possible peers, the over audio data in terms of grouping the devices by audio
values are sorted and finally the most suitable peer is selected similarity. If the devices are detected in the same proximity,
for enabling D2D communications. Somehow, this proposal the cloud server notifies the devices to make a peer based on
resolves the trust issue while incorporating social-relationship, the coordination plan. Once the users obtain such information
but it assumes that all the possible users are cooperative, which from the cloud server, they build a connection with their group
is not a realistic scenario. mates through Bluetooth connections and finally share their
Conventional networks are needed to perform a periodic files. Although this proposal provides a low latency framework
check as well as to update its geographical vicinity. This to offload computation, it is not energy efficient as it needs to
task requires continuous signaling, and thus causes higher send data to the cloud in a periodic manner.
battery consumption. Furthermore, finding an appropriate peer A parallel direction in D2D communications is to make
with the same application subscription within the proximity is groups of peers based on their social-ties of affinities. In such
also troublesome. To address these issues, cloud computation schemes, users are considered as nodes and the relationships
could be a better choice for offloading the computation of among them are taken as links. Thus, these models make a
finding a most suitable peer with the same application sub- network topology. Choi et al. [114] introduced the concept
scription. Working towards this direction, Prasad et al. [112] of device sociality, which is based on social-relationships.
proposed an application-based peer discovery mechanism that More precisely, to check the strengths of these relationships,
takes the advantage of cloud-based social-proximity. More the authors formulated the concept of social-affinity models.
precisely, a fine-grained proximity tracing mechanism helps Three types of such models are proposed including personal,
UE for D2D peer discovery, only when it shares the same organizational and mixture of the two. Moreover, most salient
proximity to the peer with the same application subscription. predicting variables are found as SMS and emails for personal
Formally, a user obtains assistance from cloud to offload and organizational affinity, respectively.
Zhang et al. [74] put forward a framework of socially-

aware peer discovery that uses the social-interaction infor-
mation of community and centrality of CUs. Specifically, the
framework is utilized to propose an ad-hoc peer discovery
scheme that improves the data transmitting ratio. Further, the
beacon mechanism is used to improve neighbor discovery.
Unlike traditional D2D schemes that employ random mobility
Cellular User
models, the authors get the data from realistic human mobil-
Cellular User
ity, which provides more realistic scenarios. However, CUs
are not equally likely to cooperate and have diverse social-
relationships with other users within the same proximity.
Therefore, it is required to address this issue as well.
Alongside, research community considered many attributes
Strong Tie Weak Tie D2D Link Cellular Link
for discovering groups based on users’ social-interactions. The
accurate selection of such attributes depends on the amount D2D to D2D Interference D2D to Cellular Interference
of proper information achieved, which can lead towards the
better selection of neighboring D2D communities. Moreover, Figure 6: Depiction of socially-aware D2D resource allocation
overlapping groups can be discovered that can improve the and interference management mainly utilizing social-ties.
transmission rates among inter-communities. Wang et al. [72]
worked towards this idea and proposed a mechanism to detect resources. Consequently, intra-cell interference between cel-
the overlapping groups. More precisely, the authors extract lular nodes and D2D pairs as well as among D2D nodes
such overlapping groups in order to detect different beacon will influence the achievable transmission rate as shown in
detection rates while analyzing dynamic roles of users. Later, Figure 6. Therefore, a question arises on how to assign these
these beacon detection rates are adjusted to reduce energy resources, which makes the substantial impact on the system
consumption and to improve the neighboring discovery rates. efficiency. Moreover, taking into account that wireless devices
However, the optimal beacon detection rates are still not found are carried by humans in D2D communications, these human
to obtain the optimal D2D communication performance. In beings shaping social networks show certain social structures
a subsequent work, Tan et al. [115] proposed a model of and phenomena. Therefore, leveraging such social-information
peer discovery and match mechanism. Formally, the authors will help to improve the D2D resource allocation and sub-
borrow the concept of device’s residual energy from green sequently system throughput. Next, we will discuss research
communication and then using it as a matching process. Later, contributions on socially-aware D2D resource allocation.
based on these match results, a shared resource allocation In line with the above discussion, Gong et al. [117] pre-
criteria is proposed for D2D communications. Further, in order sented the social-group utility maximization game model by
to resolve the request conflict to join a peer group, a fallback leveraging social-relationships and physical coupling among
mechanism is proposed so that the number of D2D pairs can users. Specifically, each user aims at maximizing its individual
be maximized. A new notion of friends is also introduced in utility instead of maximizing social-group utility that hinges
this paper that points out the difference of physical and social- heavily on its socialites with other users. A salient feature
relationship between two users, but still they collaborate for of this work is the spans of continuum space between non-
maximizing the gains of D2D communications. In order to cooperative game and network utility maximization. These
establish a link between D2D pairs, we have to make sure two extreme paradigms are based on drastically different
that the two devices are positioned in proximity. Wang et al. assumptions that users are selfish and altruistic, respectively.
[116] investigated an admission policy by leveraging social- The results show that as the strength of socialites’ increases,
ties, i.e., statistics among D2D users such as contact frequency the socially-aware Nash equilibrium strategy of a player mi-
and contact duration for D2D communications. To forecast grates from the Nash equilibrium strategy in a standard non-
the D2D link stability and success rate before link establish- cooperative game to the social-optimal strategy in network
ment, social-interaction information is necessarily considered, utility maximization. These findings provide a useful insight
therefore, purposely, they take into account both the statistical into the impact of social-ties on users’ strategies and network
channel information and the statistical user mobility model efficiency. The underlying shortcomings can be overcome by
for D2D links establishment. Their proposed methods render a jointly optimizing the performance of physical and social-
real-life road map for practical D2D communications underlay domains. A similar scenario of D2D users in the social-
mobile cellular networks. domain that form different social-communities is investigated
in [118]. Each social-community is likely to improve its own
group’s data transmission cooperatively without considering
B. Socially-Aware D2D Resource Allocation and Interference other communities. A social-group utility maximization game
management (SGUM) and a distributed algorithm based on switch opera-
Resource allocation is considered as one of the most impor- tions are formulated to maximize the social-group utility of
tant issues in D2D communications, as D2D pairs are under- each D2D user. This work quantitatively measures the joint
laid in the cellular networks to share the same frequency performance of social and physical domains. More precisely,
the authors proposed to utilize physical resource blocks as optimal structure of the beamformer, as a linear combination
a resource unit. Initially, the regular CUs’ resource blocks of weighted channel vectors. Also, the transmit beamformer is
are taken as orthogonal. The transmission power of D2D obtained in a closed form as a function of the trust degree for
transmitters and CUs are considered as constant. Next, the an achievable rate. This can explicitly show an effect of the
objective is to assign appropriate resource blocks of CUs to trust degree on the beam-forming design. Comparing to the
D2D for achieving better social-group utility. Although, the conventional schemes, the performance enhancement of the
system aggregate utility rate is increased from 16% to 56% proposed beam-forming is verified by the numerical results.
without compromising the fairness of resource sharing. In the pursuit to enhance the spectrum efficiency and energy
Different from [117] and [118], Li et al. [119] consid- efficiency of D2D-based wireless caching networks, Wu et al.
ered the social-information to assist resource allocation by [122] focused on the social-interaction based resource alloca-
establishing a socially-aware resource allocation. Specifically, tion to guarantee the quality of service (QoS) requirements of
the social-characteristics of community and centrality are involved D2D users. Taking both the physical link condition
utilized to aid resource allocation for multiple D2D pairs and and social-information into consideration, the authors first nar-
CUs. Then, the authors proposed an optimal social-community row the candidate set of content servers (CSs) for each content
aware resource allocation algorithm. In this algorithm, D2D requester (CR) to reduce the computational complexity. Then a
pairs are stimulated to share the resources of the CUs in the proper selection of CSs is executed for each CR by evaluating
same community or outside the community. The presented the probability of successful data delivery via D2D links. The
approach results showed 20% to 50% reduction in time CR has to seek help from the BS to receive desired contents in
complexity compared to prevalent works while still providing case of data transmission failed through D2D communications.
an optimal solution. Since the permission for jointly using In this scenario, the dedicated spectrum is assigned for data
the resources of underlying communities enhances the system transmission. In actual terms, resource allocation including
performance. Therefore, the connected communities utilizing spectrum and power are implemented for system performance
social-interactions outperformed the isolated one while reduc- enhancement, while guaranteeing the signal-to-interference-to-
ing the time complexity from 36% to 82%. However, the noise ratio (SINR) requirement. However, the authors over-
work only focused on controlling D2D spectrum resources looked to consider flexible contents’ caching probability and
and ignored the power control mechanism for social-ties. limited storage space of CUs.
A little different from the aforementioned works, Wang et The authors in [123] demonstrated the use of network
al. [120] studied the graph matching theory in the social net- knowledge from underlying MSNs to improve local D2D
work analysis to systematically enhance the design of wireless services in the cellular networks. Particularly, social-ties and
networks. The authors focused on radio resource allocation file centrality measures are incorporated from social-domain
and presented a systematic approach of generalizing social to present the socially-aware D2D communication scheme for
networks. The bipartite graph theory is applied for appropriate the LTE-A networks. Here, the authors dealt with D2D users’
resource allocation in the wireless networks. A bipartite graph- cluster formation, cluster head selection, and radio resource
ical method was introduced for dynamic spectrum allocation allocation problems. More precisely, clusters are formed itera-
in wireless mesh networks for simultaneous consideration of tively. The cluster head selection is based on two factors, such
bandwidth utilization and starvation problems. More precisely, as UEs’ closest relationships with other UEs, and the cached
partner selection is made on contents interest similarity, trust files are requested by more users. Subsequently, half and full
or strong connection, and channel selection that could transmit duplex approaches are employed for radio resource allocation.
the required contents completely. Such scenario is sketched by The simulation results showed that the proposed D2D com-
incorporating bipartite graph in the underlying proposal. The munication scheme can significantly improve the spectrum and
hierarchical bipartite-based pairing and clustering are consid- energy efficiency of LTE-A cellular networks. It is observed
ered for multi-dimensional factors in terms of two stages. In that incentive for data sharing among the UEs is proportional
the first stage, a partner is selected and resource allocation is to the social-closeness. In addition, an effective method is also
optimized in the second stage. The consideration of multiple provided to employ the data extracted from underlying MSNs
domain factors (including physical distance, interest similarity, to improve network performance. In continuation of the same
mutual social-trust and cache capability of UEs) in stage 1, concept of OSN network information utilization, Semiari et
along with the incorporation of physical distance and accurate al. [124] investigated resource allocation optimization in D2D-
social-trust between cellular and D2D links in stage 2, ensure enabled small cell network. For that a two-sided one-to-one
the superiority of the presented system. Since the contents matching game problem is formulated, where every UE gets
sharing and resource allocation can be time-varying as well as one resource block (RB). In this game, users’ OSN profiles are
prone to estimation errors, therefore, improvement in terms of utilized considering the similarity between users’ interactions
robustness is still required to be investigated. (such as tagging or wall posting), interests and activities. In
For the multiple-input single-output (MISO) cooperative this proposed scheme, the authors allow exploitation of the
communication system, the authors in [121] provided a frame- fact that mobile users who are intensely connected in an
work for the trust degree based on beam-forming design. OSN are probably demanding similar types of data over the
Specifically, a trust degree quantifies the trustworthiness be- wireless physical network. Based on this fact, a matching game
tween nodes on relaying action and wireless channels. To is framed with peer effects, and the strategy of every user
maximize the expected achievable rate, the authors derived an is affected by the decisions of its peers. Its performance is
evaluated by using real traces, which shows that small cell

BSs and UEs can interact and converge with manageable Social Domain
complexity to a stable matching.

The aforementioned proposals are mainly focused to incor-
porate social-relationships for D2D scenarios, while providing
different strategies for resource allocation or interference man-
agement. However, transmission duration is overlooked, which
is a critical attribute to be addressed. Working towards this Physical Domain Edge Coverage
direction, Huang et al. recently presented an architecture com-
prising of content, device, and social-domains [125]. In details,
social-domain is employed to assist resource allocation in the
Relay
device domain that starts a D2D session to map the content
propagation in content domain. The subcarrier allocation and D2D Link
distributed power problems are simulated as an evolutionary

game in D2D communication. Modern control theory and D2D Link Strong Tie Weak Tie
stochastic geometry are employed to analyze the stability of

game equilibrium. For attaining the evolutionary equilibrium, a Figure 7: An illustration of socially-aware D2D throughput
global search algorithm is presented that adaptively selects the optimization.
resources while exchanging minimum information based on
BS and D2D users, while social-interaction is modeled as Zipf
the anticipated transmission duration. In the algorithm, D2D
based marks. The spatial proximity considered channel effects,
links can select the resource adaptively based on the predicted
i.e., physical distance, path loss and channel conditions, while
contact duration. The transmission duration prediction is made
social-relationship is considered for any type of homophilic
with history trajectory of users’ mobility pattern. The proposed
relationship among D2D users. Based on spatial and social-
algorithm converges in fewer iterations and reduces the delay
interactions, the authors concluded the effect of user density,
of transmission 15% and 30% compared to coalition and
signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) threshold, power control and
random selection based strategies, respectively.
distance on average coverage probability of CUs. It is shown
Like other technologies, D2D communications bring many
that the user density and SIR threshold of D2D nodes can
opportunities in the form of improved spectral efficiency
be increased by controlling the power of CUs. The physical
and system capacity, etc. At the same time, it introduces
distance for D2D pairing is increased by controlling both the
a critical challenge such as interference apart from other
uplink transmission powers of CUs and the successful D2D
challenges to the cellular networks due to co-channel de-
pairs.
ployment. In order to overcome the interference problem in
Albeit of such advancements, the researchers are still
D2D communications, Li et al. presented a power and inter-
striving for an optimal solution that could cover all of the
ference management based mechanism for social-aware D2D
underlying aspects of resource allocation and interference
communications [126]. More precisely, the authors combined
management. In near future, adaptive and generalized resource
the social and physical distances to present a transmission
allocation approaches in the context of social-aware are ex-
mode selection approach. To reduce the interference among
pected for D2D communications. Moreover, heterogeneous
D2D pairs, a utility maximization game is presented. Power
resource management is also necessitating the researchers’
game theory is employed for solving the utility maximization
attention.
problem. It is observed that increase in the number of D2D
pairs sharing same spectrum results in elevated co-channel
interference. According to the power control game, the D2D C. Socially-Aware D2D Throughput Optimization
transmitters must have to reduce the transmission power in With the convergence of ubiquitous cellular mobile com-
order to reduce the interference. By sacrificing 10% to 12% munication and pervasive online social networking, mobile-
of the entire utility, the proposed approach saves 30% to 40% social networking is permeating with every passing day in
transmission power, thus, results in reducing the interference. our daily life as shown in Figure 7. Taking advantage of
However, the presented approach is not providing the optimal this trend, the authors in [6], [59] utilized social-trust [128]
solution in terms of covering all the aspects of social-aware and social-reciprocity [129] phenomena. They proposed a
D2D scenarios. In a recent work, Mustafa et al. [127] pre- coalitional game approach for relay selection with network
sented the interference management problem of underlay D2D assistance to promote effective co-operation strategies for
communications. In this work, the interference management D2D communications. The authors explained that social-trust
among D2D users is based on spatial and social-relationship, phenomenon among mankind can be developed. For exam-
by considering the average coverage probability of distance ple, the family relationship, friendly relationship, colleague
proportional power controlled CU. The social-interactions and relationship, and altruistic or selfless behaviors are noticed in
spatial relationships between D2D users are based on physical numerous human actions. Therefore, when a wireless device
distances and Zipf distribution of requested popular files. The user is located at residence or workplace, usually the user will
proximity-based independently marked homogeneous Poisson find family members, neighbors, friends or colleagues in the
Point Process is applied to model the spatial distribution of vicinity. Hence, such relations are social-trusted and can be
leveraged to improve D2D communications. While the social- cooperation quality, respectively. As cooperation throughput
reciprocity phenomenon is also considered a dominant social is not the only function of the wireless channel, therefore,
perspective. Social-reciprocity is usually noticed in general for throughput analysis, the corresponding function is derived,
public. It can be leveraged to promote cooperation among a and the notion of generalized degrees of freedom is utilized to
set of individuals having no social-trust. This will enable D2D investigate the system performance behavior. Particularly, an
nodes to exchange mutually beneficial dealings and making explicit formulation between generalized degrees of freedom,
all such users more contented. For instance, a user device is the social, and position relationships is established.
located at a place where the user has no trusted relations within Pan et al. [134] focused on D2D users’ relations, distance
the vicinity. Then he/she may cooperate with the strangers and their combined effects on relay selections. In this regard,
in the close vicinity by providing relay assistance to one three relay selection schemes are proposed, known as social-
another and get a better quality of D2D communications. based, distance-based and hybrid. However, the first two relay
The proposed approach was evaluated under real social data selection schemes consider social-ties and distance, respec-
sets (traces). The authors exhibited that the social-ties based tively. While the third scheme considers both the attributes
game solution is computationally efficient, immune to group (i.e., social-ties and distance together) when selecting a relay.
deviation, and offer a performance gain of 122% over the Moreover, social-ties strength among the users is gauged via
case of non-cooperative D2Ds. Similarly, Zhang et al. [130], contact history. Among the three relay selection schemes, it is
leveraged the social aspect among D2D users for cooperative observed that the hybrid approach can significantly enhance
networking to enhance the throughput gain. Specifically, the the performance of D2D cooperative communications.
social-tie structure knowledge among CUs is utilized, and Chen et al. [135] put forward a potential game-based
framed a social-trust based D2D relay selection mechanism. framework for cooperative networking known as social-group
The optimal solution is achieved considering the optimal utility maximization (SGUM) to investigate three network
stopping theory (finite-horizon), and a threshold structure is applications. These network applications are random access
presented that is stage dependent and monotonically non- control, database-assisted spectrum access and power control.
increasing. SGUM formulation takes into account both the users’ physical
Different from [6], [59] and [130], Wang et al. [131] coupling and social-interactions for making decisions in a
investigated the influence of selfish behavior on the overall distributive manner. In addition, both the social-group utility of
performance of D2D cooperative communications. For this, a each user and the weighted sum of the utilities of other users
physical-social model is presented, coupled with a graph to having social-ties are maximized. The authors showed that
get a matching solution between relay nodes and non-relay there exists a unique social-aware Nash equilibrium (SNE) for
nodes. In the proposed setup, a relay node is selected to assist both the applications, which include power control and random
in forwarding data to a non-relay node, which is supposed to access control. Moreover, it is demonstrated that when social-
get such information directly from the BS. Consequently, the ties strength increases player’s SNE migrates from the Nash
proposed arrangement of D2D nodes extended the coverage equilibrium strategy ( non-cooperative game) to the socially-
and enhanced the system throughput. From the evaluation optimal strategy in network utility maximization.
results, it is observed that those communities comprising Ometov et al. [136] aimed at promoting and further ad-
of more members are less vulnerable to social-selfishness. vancing the social-domain for D2D communications, while
However, the selected relay nodes are severely impacted by focusing on social-trust and sociality. They indicated that it is
the social-selfishness, when both the relay and non-relay nodes unlikely for D2D communications to be adopted extensively,
are equal in number. without leveraging the concept of sociality and trust cooper-
Socially-aware D2D communication is required to convert ation between the end users and the network operators. Con-
the social-relationship among users into useful information for sequent upon surveying several types of underlying incentives
the decision making processes of the corresponding physical with a main focus on sociality and trust. The authors proposed
D2D networks. In this regard, Xiao et al. [132] proposed belief a novel framework appropriate to build highly required in-
based stable marriage game to analyze socially-aware D2D centive aware D2D applications. The performance evaluations
communications. This framework enables each user to set up suggest that trust and social-aware direct connectivity have
a belief function with all other users. Furthermore, the function tremendous potential to ameliorate the network performance.
is utilized further to formulate a socially-aware preference The users’ mobility and D2D communications’ small cover-
for all possible actions. Here, belief function represents a age induce frequent handovers that cause network evaluation,
probability distribution over the potential social-connections mode, and peer selection problems. In this work [137], the
with other users. This can be public, private, static, and authors addressed the aforementioned issues by incorporating
dynamic belief functions. In addition, the authors investigated social-interactions. First, social-relationships are formed based
spectrum sharing problem for in-band D2D communications, on physical-social mode and the social-relationship metrics.
and presented how to leverage this framework and optimize This metric depends on contact history, social-similarity and
the socially-aware D2D communications. Mao et al. [133] in- contribution history. The social-learning based cooperative
vestigated the cooperation throughput among multiple mobile network evaluation enables users to lie together in a social-
nodes. The authors analyzed the cooperation signal via a ran- community for sharing and fusing local beliefs. Non-Bayesian
dom variable, which embodies joint effect of both social and social-learning is exploited for this purpose, in which both
position relationships to decide the cooperation probability and state space and signal space are considered as discrete and
time is slotted for computation. Finally, social-relationship Unlike the works in [112] and [116], Datsika et al. [140]
dependent mode and peer selection are performed due to presented a socially-aware cooperative D2D MAC protocol
a dynamic environment, and improved the efficiency with (SCD2D) for D2D cooperation. It utilizes sociable UEs as
enhanced data rates. relays that improve the energy efficiency of D2D coopera-
tion by reducing power consumption. The SCD2D protocol
considers social-information of users for D2D cooperation,
D. Socially-Aware D2D Energy Efficiency
which results in a green energy efficient MAC protocol.
Energy efficiency of D2D communications is also a major The authors compared the results with existing works that
concern that arises in socially-aware D2D networks, since don’t consider the social-ties, and found that SCD2D protocol
mobile wireless devices are usually powered by a battery. utilized up to 44% and 58% lower battery power than the
Thus, proper selection in the pairing of D2D nodes should existing protocols. These results can help to develop more
be performed for D2D cooperation to utilize resources ef- efficient cooperative D2D protocols for both the cellular and
ficiently. To ensure fairness, the social-connections between D2D networks simultaneously.
users should be utilized to improve the QoS and the overall Nowadays, all smart-phones are usually equipped with
energy efficiency of D2D communications [10], [45], [138]. multiple radio access technologies (RAT) including LTE-A,
Therefore, both energy efficiency and QoS can be simultane- WiFi, and Bluetooth, which enable D2D communications.
ously improved by a proper grouping of D2D users in socially- Therefore, for framing energy efficiency optimization and
aware D2D structures [139]. resource utilization problems in D2D communications [138],
In socially-aware D2D communications, multiple devices air interfaces play a major role. Therefore, the authors in [141]
located in same proximity attempt to access the wireless deemed it necessary to analyze energy efficiency of WiFi and
medium. These interactions are affected by the users’ social LTE interfaces in different socially-aware D2D environments,
features. Since, such socially connected users have more and proposed a new model for WiFi. They explored that
possibilities to involve in D2D cooperation, however, the en- WiFi interface is a better option than LTE in many scenarios,
ergy consumption of mobile devices affects D2D cooperation. particularly if there is no requirement of high data rates. It is
In this regard, some research efforts are made to optimize realized by the authors that a mobile social network always
energy efficiency under socially-aware D2D network. Here, attempts to reduce the number of active interfaces that results
we present a brief review of such efforts. Wang et al. [72] in reduced power consumption. So, it is recommended that the
put forward a neighbor discovery technique for overlapping smartphones can be developed in such a way that the static
communities in D2D communication networks. This approach part in power utilization should be close to zero. Otherwise
uses the connection status between D2D nodes to detect the power consumption during communication would remain
overlapping community structure. Then overlapping nodes act linearly dependent on the data rate for a known distance.
as communication bridges to improve data sharing between In [142], the authors proposed a new architecture for the
the communities. It helps to adjust beacon detection rates dy- 5G cellular networks, which integrates both the energy har-
namically, which results in improved neighbor discovery rates vesting techniques and the social networking features in D2D
and reduced power consumption. However, achievement of communications. More precisely, they proposed two socially-
optimum beacon detection rates for overlapping users through aware D2D communication schemes; one is based on device
such technique is still challenging. In another work, Prasad relay and the other on device multicast. The device relay based
et al. [112] designed a social-application specific mechanism scheme only improved system throughput, while the device
for discovery, which enables D2D nodes to achieve 70% multicast based scheme improves both energy efficiency and
energy savings in a social-cloud region due to reduced fre- spectral efficiency.
quency of discovery procedures. In such social-cloud region, Summary: According to the state-of-the-art research con-
the probability of detection increases only when nodes are tributions in each aforementioned categories of technical prob-
sufficiently close to other nodes, while sharing the same lems; we propose a classification, in order to summarize the
application-specific interests. Such utilization of the cloud contributions as shown in Table I and Table II considering
application helps off-load the discovery phenomenon from the the employed techniques and utilized social features. All
LTE network as well as from the D2D network. Thus, a cloud- the research contributions in terms of technical solutions in
based solution is employed, which enables UEs to save battery different categories showed the interplay of the social-domain
consumption through reduced signaling loads. and physical domain. Among the social features, the majority
In [116], the authors proposed a cluster formation in which of the contributed solutions are based on social-ties and then
both physical and social-relationships between D2D nodes are comes social-trust. However, selfishness feature is mainly
incorporated. For this purpose, two multi-objective clustering used in throughput optimization problems. It is pertinent to
approaches are proposed, which include "Chinese restaurant mention here that all these contributions are merely based
process” (CRP) and other is an enhanced version of CRP that on human social-interactions, which include both offline and
is "distance-dependent Chinese restaurant process” (DCRP). online relationships. However, devices’ social-interactions are
Such a cluster formation approach enables each new node almost missing in the literature. Sociality of the device can
to select a cluster to improve its link data rate. It achieves be utilized where human-interactions are not required, for
significant energy efficiency over the existing physical distance instance, users’ applications at leisure, which include enter-
based techniques. tainment and gaming, non-confidential data sharing, and non-
Table I: Classification of Socially-aware D2D communications’ technical problems based on social features
Technical Problems Utilized Social features
Technical issues References Year Employed Techniques Ties Trust Community Selfishness
Wang et al. [72] 2016 Overlapping communities detection method in D2D network, from - - Y -
which beacon detection rates can be identified.
Zhang et al. [74] 2015 Utilized beacon mechanism and leveraged social interaction - - Y -
information of community and centrality of cellular user.
Mao et al. [111] 2014 Joint social-position cooperation and partner selection algorithm - Y - -
based on available social and position information at mobile
terminals.
Peer discovery and Mass et al. [113] 2014 Mobile cloud based client-server system, where audio data from - Y - -
link admission D2D environment is used for proximity check in terms of grouping
the devices by audio similarity.
Prasad et 2014 Cloud based social proximity tracing, which offloads computation, Y - - -
al.[112] helps the UE trigger D2D pair discovery.
Choi et al. [114] 2015 Device sociality concept based on social relationships among Y - - -
network devices. Most salient predicting variables includes SMS and
emails for personal and organizational affinity.
Tan et al.[115] 2016 Peer discovery and match mechanism. Residual energy is leveraged - - Y -
for matching process.
Wang et al.[116] 2015 Admission policy using statistical information among D2D users, Y - - -
such as contact frequency and contact duration.
Gong et al. [117] 2013 SGUM game model utilizing social-relationships. Strength of Y - - -
social-ties greatly impacts SGUM.
Zhao et al. [118] 2015 Distributed algorithm based on SGUM game. - - Y -
Li et al. [119] 2015 Optimal social-community aware resource allocation algorithm - - Y -
leveraging the social-characteristics of community and centrality .
Wang et al. 2015 Hierarchical bipartite-based pairing and clustering under the umbrella Y - - -
[120] of graph matching theory are considered for resource allocation.
Ryu et al. [121] 2015 For MISO cooperative communication, trust degree based beam - Y - -
forming is designed.
Resource allocation Wu et al. [122] 2016 Taking physical link condition and social-information of D2D users, Y - - -
and interference system computational complexity is reduced.
management
Zhang et al. 2016 Cluster formation for the categorization of multiple D2D groups. Y - - -
[123] Half-duplex scheme and a full-duplex scheme are used for channel
sharing between the cellular links and the D2D links.
Semiariet al. 2016 Matching game for context-aware resource allocation problem is Y - - -
[124] formulated, based on utility functions that captures both physical and
social metrics.
Huang et al. 2017 Evolutionary game based subcarrier and power is framed Y - - -
[125] distributively, considering content, device and social domains.
Li et al. [126] 2016 Game theory is employed to reduce interference and framed utility Y - - -
maximization problem utilizing social and physical distance.
Mustafa et al. 2016 For interference management proximity based Poisson Point Process Y - - -
[127] is leveraged to model the spatial distribution of BS and D2D users,
while social interaction is modeled as Zipf based marks.
Chen et al. [6] 2016 Coalitional game approach for relay selection considering social-trust Y - - -
and reciprocity under real data traces.
Chen et al. [59] 2013 Coalitional game approach for relay selection considering social-trust - Y - Y
and reciprocity.
Zhang et al. 2014 Relay selection scheme leveraging social-tie structure knowledge Y Y - -
[130] among cellular users based on finite-horizon optimal stopping
criteria.
Wang et al. 2015 Graph theory based cooperative relay matching scheme for - - Y Y
[131] community and checking influence of selfishness.
Throughput Xiao et al. [132] 2015 Belief based stable marriage game to analyze socially aware D2D - Y Y Y
optimization communication
Mao et al. [133] 2016 Generalized degrees of freedom (GDOF) is used to study the - Y - -
behavior of the throughput in the linear region.
Pan et al. [134] 2016 Two relay selection schemes considering contact history (social-tie) Y - - -
alone and combined with distance for social-based relay and hybrid
based relay respectively.
Chen et al. [135] 2016 SGUM for relay selection and randomized distributed spectrum Y - - -
access algorithm.
Ometov et al. 2016 Towards Trusted, Social-Aware D2D Connectivity: Bridging Across - Y Y Y
[136] Technology and Sociality Realms
Meng et al.[137] 2017 Social-relationship metrics such as contact history, social similarity Y - - -
and contribution history are used, and then social learning based
cooperative network evaluation is performed.
Table II: Classification of Socially-aware D2D communications’ technical problems based on social features
Technical Problems Utilized Social features
Technical issues References Year Employed Technique Ties Trust Community Selfishness
Wang et al. [72] 2016 D2D node discovery via overlapping communities detection method, - - Y -
which reduces power consumption.
Prasad et al. 2014 Exploiting cloud computing benefits for social application based Y - - -
[112] D2D node discovery that increases the probability of detection when
devices are in close proximity.
Wang et al. 2015 Cluster formation approach via multi-objective clustering i.e., CRP Y Y - -
[116] and DCRP.
Energy efficiency Datsika et 2016 D2D MAC protocol design, where sociable UEs cooperate as relays Y - - -
al.[140] that improve the energy efficiency of D2D communication by
reducing power consumption.
Hoeyhtyae et al. 2016 Analysis of power-efficient transmission mode, which includes LTE Y - - -
[141] and Wifi in different social-aware scenarios.
Jiang et al. [142] 2016 Efficient data dissemination via social-ties based energy harvesting Y - - -
device relaying scheme and the social-community-based energy
harvesting device multicast scheme.
critical services (e.g., map sharing for transportation systems)

[136]. Aforementioned scenarios of interest may consider
users dispersed in a certain hotspot area (club), sporting Socially-Aware D2D Applications
event (stadium), or a university campus, and sharing common
interests thus interact using their devices. We have firm belief
that sociality has the potential to develop into a core motivation
across an extensive range of services and applications, wherein
D2D communications may reveal tremendous gains.
Socially-Aware D2D Caching and Socially-Aware D2D Computational
Traffic Offloading Offloading
IV. A PPLICATIONS OF S OCIALLY-AWARE D2D
C OMMUNICATIONS
In socially-aware D2D communication networks, each UE
Socially-Aware D2D Content
should consider the social-relations or connections with other Dissemination
UEs in addition to physical proximity and local resource
availability. Social-awareness is considered a promising do-
main not only for D2D communications but also for other 5G
technologies. It can provide a further boost and improve the Figure 8: Categorization of the Applications in socially-aware
D2D communications in the following aspects i.e., caching D2D communications.
and traffic offloading, computational offloading and content
about their own benefits, rather than caching and/or offloading
dissemination. Therefore, we categorize socially-aware D2D
contents for others. These situations cause an adverse influence
communication’s applications into D2D caching and traffic of-
on the network performance as cellular and D2D transmissions
floading, computational offloading and content dissemination
involve the monetary cost of mobile users. This does not hold
as depicted in Figure 8. Further, according to the state-of-the-
with selfish users, as they only consider their own payoffs
art research contributions in each category, our classification is
rather than the complete network performance. First, there
presented in Table III considering the applied approaches and
is no incentive involved for selfish users to join as a seed
utilized social features. Considering the relevance and number
user. Second, they tend to communicate with those users that
of paper contributions, both caching and traffic offloading are
communicate at an early access as they have a high probability
discussed together.
to deliver content. To improve overall system performance
social features must be utilized for motivating users to take
A. Socially-Aware D2D Caching and Traffic Offloading part in data caching and offloading as illustrated in Figure 9.
In the present era of communication technology, social In the next subsection, initially, we focus on different
networking services and other applications, including Face- socially-aware caching techniques, and then discuss social-
book, Twitter and YouTube naming a few pose a huge burden aware traffic offloading mechanisms.
over the cellular networks. A large amount of the network 1) Socially-Aware D2D Caching: Caching popular files can
bandwidth is consumed for downloading numerous duplicated be performed at the BS to increase transmission rates. But
data contents [67], [68]. Considering this unrelenting demand there is a drawback of this technique when at the BS a
for data files and video contents, there is a need of new ap- popular file or data is cached, all the UEs’ send the data
proaches to deal with higher data rate demands. Data caching requests to the BS. This direct requesting increases traffic load
and mobile traffic offloading are two promising approaches to between BS and UEs. This problem of traffic load between
reduce delay and traffic load from the overburdened cellular BS and UEs can be resolved by caching contents on the users’
mobile network. But users are selfish and more concerned devices. Data caching devices can act as seeders and devices in
Social Domain allowable actions. An action is basically a selection of one

specific file by a learner or user from the set of files available
in the library that is meant to be cached. An action gets a
positive reward from the social network environment if an
optimum file is selected. According to the same interests or
File 1
social-connections clusters are created. First, in each cluster,
File 2 important users are selected using centrality or a high degree of
Social Tie users’ connectivity. Then, selected data files through learning
Cellular Link
automaton are cached in users (high centrality) to offload data
files to other users. Discrete generalized pursuit algorithm
Seeder
D2D Link with social-characters (DGPA-SC) is devised for optimizing
Seeder
content placement as it pursues those actions delivering higher
rewards. This algorithm has a high convergence speed while
reduces delay and enhances throughput.
Physical Domain
There are two types of caching approaches, reactive and
proactive caching. In reactive caching, data contents are cached
Figure 9: An illustration of socially-aware D2D caching and after the arrival of the data request, which causes a delay
traffic offloading. of service. On the other hand, in proactive caching, data
contents are cached during off-peak hours that enhance QoS.
proximity can get that data from seeders by making a request But there comes forth a serious issue about the selection
[143]–[148]. On the other hand, users are selfish by nature of contents to be cached. For this purpose, social-ties or
and they strive for maximizing their own benefits or profits relations can be leveraged in knowing demand or request
during each opportunistic connection. They don’t participate pattern of data contents. Because those users having social-
in caching data for other users as it incurs cost due to cache ties have a high probability of demanding same data contents.
placement for serving as a content provider. The total network In [151], Bastug et al. investigated mobile traffic offloading
cost is dependent on cache placement and data accessing. For from proactive caching perspective. The authors proposed a
minimizing these costs there is an untapped paradigm of the proactive caching framework, in which caching is performed
social networking, which is lacking in the present cellular during off-peak hours. Secondly, context-awareness is used
networks that can provide users with a higher degree of access for data dissemination by exploiting social-ties (based on
to information. Zhu et al. in [149] proposed social-aware influences and social-relations), proximity of users and storage
caching game (SACG) for incentivizing nodes to cache data capabilities for content dissemination. Influential nodes are
for other nodes. The caching cost is based on two factors selected through eigenvector centrality, where largest eigen-
that are social-ties and physical distance. These two factors vector corresponds to the largest eigenvalue. After finding
are combined in framing centralized and distributed social- influential nodes, data dissemination procedure is designed
aware incentive caching algorithms. In the centralized socially- analogously to table selection in CRP. In CRP customers are
aware incentive based caching scheme, those nodes with more objects and tables are classes, and the decision of customers
demands for data are selected as cache nodes. Next, nodes is influenced by previous customers’ feedback. According to
having lower content placement cost are selected for caching which, users in a community request their desired contents,
data, otherwise, nodes having lower data accessing cost are and once users finish their contents downloading, hits are
selected for caching. But in case of the distributed social- recorded. This influences the probability that the same content
aware incentive caching scheme, at first, each node exchanges will be desired by other users in the same community. The
its encounter information for distance calculation, and then a proposed mechanism results witness its efficiency in waiving
timer is set up with an initial value. As timer reaches zero, backhaul load while providing offloading gains and resources
node claims itself as a cache node and broadcast messages. conservation.
Once such messages are received by other nodes, the cost Bai et al. improved users’ QoE by using a multi-layer
for content placement and data accessing are compared. If approach while combining physical links, social-ties and com-
the cost of data accessing is lower than data placement cost, mon interests based data caching [152]. In order to model
then broadcaster node is accepted as a cache node. This them altogether, a hypergraph based social-aware framework
caching scheme not only helps to minimize total cost of the is proposed that exploits users’ mobility behaviors and social-
D2D network but also improves the cache hit ratio. The non- ties among users. Information about physical links, social-ties,
trivial problem of encouraging selfish users to utilize their and common interests are abstracted by hypergraph frame-
storage for serving other users is also undertaken in [150]. work, which is based on social-trust. When two users have a
The authors proposed a distributed caching technique, which mutual trust, it represents a strong social-tie and willingness
uses social networking characteristics, such as tie, centrality, to establish a D2D link. On the contrary, if no social-trust
bridge, and community. By utilizing social-characteristics, exists between two users, in that case, social-tie between them
selfish users are also motivated to participate in improving is weak, which demonstrates an unwillingness to establish a
network throughput. A fast converging learning automaton D2D connection. Social-trust implies strong social-ties that can
is used that determines an optimal action within the set of be used to determine mobility paths. Because high correlated
mobility paths represent long contact duration for a D2D link. as a coalitional game for cooperative video multicasting. Then
Thus, different social impacts result in different content dis- distributed algorithm is devised for core solution (group for-
semination performances. Hence, hypergraph based socially- mation) for the coalition game. Finally, resource allocation is
aware framework exploited social-characteristics of mobile proposed for BS to deal with the nodes’ requests. The SoCast
users and abstracted multilayer information for improving framework has two phases, i.e., multicast and D2D phase.
content-centric delivery and caching capabilities. During the multicast phase BS multicasts packets and during
In case of a delay tolerant network (DTN), accessing data the D2D phase, nodes share missing packets among each other
is the main challenge because of changing mobility pattern through D2D links. Most of the cooperative video multicasting
of users’ devices. Hence, accessing data via conventional approaches demand for modification to air interface or video
cooperative caching technique is not adequate. As there is encoding schemes, or components of the system. However,
limited contact duration between user nodes, therefore, large SoCast has a much easy implementation on the client side,
data contents or data files cannot be transmitted from one node and has no compatibility issue with existing air interfaces and
to another during single contact duration. On the other hand, video encoding schemes. The performance of SoCast is tested
if data is fragmented and only part of a file is transmitted on real traces, which shows great improvement in the video
during each contact, then coupon collector problem arises perception quality for users.
that severely degrades data accessing performance. Owing to Conventional flooding of content requests and reply packets
which there is a serious issue of where to cache, and how generate overhead due to a large number of transmissions,
much data to cache in a DTNs. In this regard, Zhu et al. which don’t hold in a mobility scenario or content-centric en-
[153] addressed the problem by proposing a duration aware vironment. Therefore, Pu et al. proposed social-aware named
caching (DAC) protocol. The protocol utilizes community and data framework (sNDN) for enhancing cooperative content
centrality features of the social networking that is relatively retrieval [156]. sNDN groups together users to create a
stable to deal with the unpredictable or unstable network topol- friendship circle by utilizing social factors, such as similarity
ogy in DTN. Those nodes belonging to the same community in mobility pattern and requested contents. Then, routing
have a better probability to share their cached data contents tables are constructed containing friendship circles, encounter
with other nodes within the same community. Therefore, first frequency to navigate content request and reply between
nodes’ caching capability is calculated, since, within the same friendship circles. Finally, social properties are leveraged in
community some nodes have higher ability to share their friendship circle for searching final target as inner-friendship
cached data to same community members. Next, depending circle routing. The evaluation of sNDN results show not
on the nodes’ contact patterns data contents are cached. Trace- only conservation of cellular capacity but also outperform the
driven simulations show improvement in data access with DAC comparative social-unaware content retrieval mechanisms.
protocol. In social-trust based cooperative D2D communication, re-
2) Socially-Aware D2D Traffic Offloading: Mobile traffic laying users have heterogeneous physical distances and diverse
or data offloading is a compelling network technology for social distances. Those relay users having long social or physi-
mobile network operators (MNOs) to shed BS data traffic loads cal distances are less effective for cooperative communication.
over the D2D network without any capital and operational Therefore, relay probing is used for all the users to determine
expenditure. It is also very appealing to mobile users that cooperative communications gain. This problem is addressed
desires low delay experience and high data rates. Since mobile by Zhang et al in [130], as the authors leveraged social-ties
devices are carried by humans, which are connected with among device users. A cooperative D2D relaying framework
each other through online and offline social networks. Their is designed on the basis of social-trust taking both the physical
social-interactions can be devised in the D2D environment for distances and social-ties into consideration. Optimal stopping
increasing reliability, system capacity and overall system per- theory is implemented for deriving an optimal socially enabled
formance [154]. Social-relations among users play a vital role relay selection scheme, while maintaining a balance between
in linking proximate wireless devices. Social networking has performance and cost of relay probing. The simulation re-
the capability to redefine the approaches to access data through sults depict that underlying framework achieves a significant
the exploitation of social-ties among users. Subsequently, it throughput.
will help to utilize the network resources optimally. If the network connection is sensitive due to users’ mobility
There are two main issues in cooperative data offloading. then data cannot be offloaded successfully. To achieve an
One is how to motivate mobile users to help other mobile efficient data transmission, a stable network connection is re-
users, and second is how to implement coordination among quired. This approach is addressed by many researchers while
users for cooperation. To deal with these two critical issues, the exploiting social-ties among users, which is a characteristic of
authors in [155] have proposed social-aware video multi-cast the social networking. Social-ties can be strong or weak on
framework (SoCast) by leveraging social-ties for motivating the basis of contact duration or/and inter-contact time. Plenty
users to cooperate in data offloading. The SoCast framework of works focus on strong social-ties as it provides optimum
incorporates both the physical and social-domains, and two information about users’ request and mobility patterns, but
types of social-ties are considered i.e. social-trust and social- no sufficient work is done in terms of utilizing weak-ties.
reciprocity. The nodes are grouped together for sharing miss- Ioannidis et al. [157] dealt this problem by covering a large
ing video frames with each other on the basis of trust and reci- number of data requests and exploiting weak-ties in a mobile
procity. Initially, social-ties based group formation is framed social network. Users utilize their scarcely used contacts on
the basis of weak-ties for disseminating data to the disjoint

communities. Hence, weak-ties can be used for reducing
bandwidth usage and outage probability. Internet
Data Center/Central Cloud Data Center/Central Cloud
In [76], social networking is exploited in D2D commu-
nications for improving network performance and reducing
data traffic overhead. First, a stable D2D link is established
leveraging real-world social-relationships among users. This
is known as an offline social network. In an offline social Mobile Edge Cloud
Servers
network, the first request for data content is managed by
BS and further requests for same data are served by D2D
communication through those users who already possess data
within the physical proximity. In an online social network
similarly to Indian buffet process (IBP), a content distribution
Mobile Devices
technique is modeled that depends on the influence among
users. Data contents are spread on the basis of popularity
from frequent users to regular users. Frequent users have high Offloader Computational Oflloading
online social activities, whereas regular users are less frequent

on the online social network. Content selection is performed Figure 10: Three layers are shown, where top one represents
similar to IBP, where the first user selects content according the remote cloud, while middle one characterizes the edge
to Poisson distribution and later users’ requests are influenced cloud, and the lower most layer describes the mobile devices
by the selection of previous users. Finally, data is offloaded based cloud for computational offloading.
through a multistage data offloading algorithm that combines
both the offline and online social networks. mobile devices are becoming more powerful in terms of pro-
Wang et al. [158] put forward tag-assisted social-aware oppor- cessing speed, and even these devices may not be able to tackle
tunistic traffic offloading scheme. The seed nodes are selected the applications’ huge processing demand in a short time. Ad-
on the basis of social-similarities, users’ data spreading im- ditionally, low battery capacity and high power consumption
pact (OSN), and mobility patterns in offline social networks. by these demanding applications still pose a major obstacle
Spreading impact and social-similarity between two users are hampering the users to fully enjoy such applications on their
dependent on the tags in OSN that indicates importance of a own UEs. This motivates to offload the applications imposing
user for spreading content. On the other hand, mobility impact huge processing to the multiple UEs in the vicinity as depicted
represents user’s importance for spreading content on the in Figure 10. In this regard, the concept of cloud computing
basis of encounter frequency or opportunistic communication. at the edge is introduced. This concept implements computing
The framework presents promising results by reducing 78.9% right at the mobile UEs via ad-hoc cloud letting numerous
cellular data traffic, and maintaining a high user satisfaction proximity UEs to combine their computation power to enable
ratio. local processing of the highly demanding applications [160]–
Recently, Alim et al. [159] investigated the node mobility [164]. To enable the ad-hoc cloud computing, the following
impact on the performance of multi-hop D2D communica- challenges are necessary to be dealt; such as discovering ap-
tions by exploiting community feature of social-domain. The propriate computing UEs in proximity, properly coordinating
authors framed the multi-hop problem as a cost-effective among the computing UEs, motivating the computing UEs to
node selection approach for real-time content delivery. First, share their computing resources for other UEs given the battery
social-community structure is formulated, and then the idea consumption and additional data transmission constraints, and
of sustainable bridge edges is introduced through the nodes’ finally the security and privacy issues. In order to accomplish
historical encounters. Subsequently, the optimization problem computing at UEs, we need to discover the typical behavioral
is framed for selecting an optimal set of nodes, to maintain patterns and stable social-interactions among human beings.
sustainable communication in the presence of nodes’ mobility. Such information can assist in matchmaking and suitable
The authors verify that the proposed approach not only attain arrangement of trusted user groups.
an optimal solution for real-time content transmission, but Unrelenting growth of the mobile applications creates seri-
also minimizes the incentive cost that BS pays to nodes for ous challenges for mobile devices on data usage and compu-
encouraging users in D2D communication. The simulation tation. In this regard, recently, Cao et al. [165] put forward a
results of social-community aware scheme show substantial framework known as socially-aware joint task-data offloading,
gains, in terms of traffic offloading from the BS to the D2D in which social-awareness is leveraged and user devices’
network, in comparison with the socially-unaware approaches. surplus resources (inclusive computing) can be utilized to stim-
ulate beneficial cooperation among D2D nodes. As the sharing
of resources typically incurs overhead in terms of energy
and data, and mobile user without having social-relationships
B. Socially-Aware D2D Computational Offloading may not altruistically help other users. In this work, social-
The user data rates and QoS requirements are exponentially reciprocity is leveraged in the absence of social-trust to make
growing with time. Similarly, the state-of-the-art evolving available more opportunities via exchanging different types of
resources, such as computation and communication resources.

Specifically, they look after UEs having limited energy or
inadequate data usage budgets. Consider UE-A has adequate
Selfish User
data usage but suffering from low battery power. In this case,
if UE-A wants to transcode a video clip, it can offload such a Selfish User
task to nearby UE-B having enough computation power and
Selfish User
energy budget but with inadequate data usage budget. For this
problem, the authors proposed both centralized approach (i.e.,
matching based) and distributed approach (i.e., game based)
to reduce energy consumption and data usage. This proposal D2D Social
Video Sharing
is framed on the small-scale scenario, where one surrogate Community
(e.g., a mobile device with sufficient energy budget) assists one Selfish User Selfish User
relay (e.g., mobile device with sufficient data usage budget).
However, in practical scenarios, surrogate/relay can assist
Strong Tie
multiple relays/surrogates for the joint task-data offloading Weak Tie
framework. Figure 11: An illustration of different scenarios in socially-

Flores et al. [166] designed a software-based sensor to aware D2D content dissemination.
detect communication infrastructure (D2D nodes) in close-
vicinity, which is termed as a detector. As D2D infrastructure escalating with every passing day [168]. This is depicted
formation is a complex task in general, because UEs are via Figure 11 through content dissemination in different
required to be discovered, and stable channels to be allocated, scenarios. Therefore, Koutsopoulus et al. [169], put forward
and proper coordination mechanism is required among them. D2D communications as an emerging paradigm, especially for
The authors evaluated the detector using WiFi-Direct and content distribution among mobile users. The authors raised
Bluetooth technology. They determined that in a practical the question: given that owners of mobile UEs are linked via
scenario socially-aware mobile UE is always surrounded in social-ties in a social graph, and that such information can be
proximity by other mobile UEs throughout the day. Hence, extracted by a wireless operator. How can the operator utilize
through this insight, UE can schedule its tasks processing the social-ties information in order to transport data efficiently?
in coordination with other UEs, instead of tackling it by The authors framed the problem as a constrained minimum-
oneself. In comparison to available tools and protocols such cost problem, which is solved through the Lagrange relaxation-
as Gnutella3, JXTA2, Bonjour1, etc., the proposed software- based algorithm. For this purpose, the authors considered
based solution can dynamically detect the frequent changes few content sessions with both the source and destination
in D2D infrastructure with high energy efficiency. Different UEs. Through content sessions, the best route from source
from [166], the authors proposed another system for mobile to destination for minimizing the total communication cost is
users known as a social-aware hybrid offloading (HyMobi) determined (i.e., transmission delay between UEs). Further, a
[167]. This will overcome the problem of sporadic and tran- probability based on social-ties is modeled. Then D2D user
sient opportunistic moments in task offloading in the existing accepts incoming traffic and desires that the solution results
offloading systems. The infrastructure comprises of D2D com- in a minimum probability of content delivery to the destination
munication, cloudlet (under the same category of mobile edge user. Algorithm performance is tested on real data-sets, which
cloud) and remote cloud (central cloud) as shown in Figure are utilized to build the social graphs and the communication
10. Through above entities combination, the accessibility of links.
offloading support is enhanced and improved the end users’ To attain efficient content sharing for long range links
QoS. In order to sustain the system, the authors proposed in the multi-hop D2D scenario, Zhao et al. [118] exploited
credit and reputation based incentive approach to foster users’ the associations between the physical-social domains. Multi-
involvement and cooperation. This approach will exploit users’ hop link establishment is framed as a cost minimization
social-characteristics to form offloading communities. For problem in terms of transmission delay reduction. For this,
example, a node in a network gains points if it contributes authors proposed a sub-optimal greedy algorithm considering
resources to other nodes, such as computational resources, the constraints at the physical domain as well as the influence
continuing for a longer time in a certain location, and pre- of social-community characteristics. The presented solution
caching some tasks. Also, a node misses points when utilizing decreases the average path length substantially when compared
community pool resources. In this way, the smartphones users with random selection, furthest first, and community aware
lease their resources as an open commodity, which may be random selection approaches. However, this work doesn’t
attained by other nodes in a given network. The results reveal consider the influence of mobility features on long-range
that through incentive mechanism, nodes’ selfishness is more link establishment schemes. Nunes et al. [170] investigated
effectively dealt in comparison with the altruistic approach. a multihop D2D network problem, in which social-group
meeting awareness is introduced to get cost-effective message
C. Socially-Aware D2D Content Dissemination transmissions. It is coupled with an advantage of not involv-
D2D communication is considered as a key element for ing any community detection and being parameter-free. The
local area services regarding popular content sharing that is proposed group-meeting-aware forwarding (GROUPS-NET) is
considered a promising scheme. This is due to the fact that it communication overhead.
can be used to propose forwarding strategies for numerous dif- Selfish users pose adverse effects due to objective reasons,
ferent applications, such as single-source-multiple-destinations including UEs’ limited energy and buffer, device malfunction-
and multiple-sources-multiple-destinations. The performance ing, along with subjective reasons including social-relations
of GROUPS-NET (which includes opportunistic protocol and and privacy. For promoting cooperation of socially-selfish (SS)
parameter-free algorithm) reveals that in large-scale scenarios, communication nodes to relay messages in MSNs, a game-
it achieves roughly the same delivery ratio with 40 percent theoretic incentive scheme for social-aware routing (GISSO)
less network overhead in comparison to the existing socially- is proposed in [174]. First of all, GISSO leverages the social-
unaware solutions. tie information and content knowledge to identify the social
Unlike the previous studies that deal with the incentive utility of a message to an intermediate node. Next, alternating-
problem of D2D-based data dissemination by means of mon- offers bargaining game is applied, where SS nodes trade
etary incentive mechanism or auction-based scheme [171]. their messages with the objective to maximize their own
These are faced with a challenge to decide the distribu- social utility function. The performance is evaluated with two
tion of content requests and corresponding payments to the real-world datasets, and compared it with some benchmark
helpers nodes to guarantee truthfulness. The work presented socially-aware routing protocols. The authors verify through
in [172] studied a III phase mechanism to further improve simulation results that in terms of the message delivery ratio
data dissemination efficiency in D2D communications. The III and delay, the proposed approach outperforms Selfish SCORP,
phase mechanism includes seeds selection in the first phase, SSAR, and Selfish dlife schemes. In another work [175],
and data forwarding by leveraging both physical contacts Wu et al. formulated a socially-aware incentive mechanism
and users’ social-relationships in the remaining II phases. for stimulating selfish users to distribute video. Pricing-based
Actually, the authors concentrated on truthful money-less multicast and grid-based cluster distribution system of videos
incentive mechanism for more lightweight implementation. are designed to offload BS. Users cooperating with BS to
Initially, a social-physical graph is developed based on edge- distribute videos are known as core users. They are selected
betweenness using the Girvan-Newman algorithm. It is then based on familiarity or social-relations that depends on users’
partitioned into communities, and based on vertex-closeness, social-interactions and mobility. As the core users are selfish,
one seed is selected for each community. In the subsequent two they first evaluate their own benefits before distributing the
phases, accommodating their altruistic and selfish incentive videos. Therefore, it is a cumbersome problem to design
constraints, data forwarding among users are carried out. The incentive mechanism. For that purpose, a Stackelberg game-
effectiveness of the approach is verified through simulation based pricing mechanism is formulated for motivating core
results with diverse synthetic and real-trace datasets. users to take part in videos distribution. Stackelberg game
Many researchers focused on mitigating selfish behavior of comprises of the leader (BS) and the followers (core users).
user through different incentive mechanisms. Among which Therefore, in the beginning the BS determines initial price
most of them are based on centralized trusted authority for and provides it to the core users. In response, the core users
managing rewards, which seems impractical with the intermit- send back their strategies to the BS. Through negotiations
tent network connections. The authors in [173] proposed copy and adjustments, a balance of benefits is achieved between
adjustable incentive scheme (CAIS) that utilizes virtual credits the core users and the BS. The core users benefit depend
for motivating selfish users to take part in data forwarding. on the number of videos forwarded that will motivate core
All the nodes are divided into communities based on social- users for videos distribution. Results depict that the proposed
relations among nodes. Intermediate nodes that relay data for mechanism alleviates overhead from the BS, and also enhances
other nodes inside or outside community are rewarded with reliability and the performance of video transmission.
social and non-social credits, respectively. On the basis of Considering the power limitation of mobile devices, Zhao
earned credits and cooperation level, messages are replicated et al. [176] developed an energy efficient solution for data
to other nodes. Those nodes obtaining high credits generate dissemination over the D2D communication networks. The
and replicate messages to other nodes; on the other hand, solution makes a balance between the total energy consump-
nodes with low credits have a decreased utility and are not tion and the transmission completion time. Two algorithms
able to forward messages. Credits are attached to the relayed are proposed for the selection of the seed and transmission
messages and awarded to intermediate nodes for delivering the scheduling (for both single seed or multiple seeds). The results
message to the destination. The number of copies of messages reveal that the presented solution outperforms random and
is determined by social and non-social credits. The number of coalition game based schemes, and at the same time achieves
social credit represents social-contacts of node within its own a good balance for transmission completion time. However,
community. Single-copy data replication policy is adopted by static scenarios are considered without incorporating dynamics
CAIS, which does not involve third-party authority center. By of a practical scenario such as users mobility patterns.
this technique, the source node can forward a copy of its own Wu et al. [177] proposed an approach based on physi-
data, but the intermediate node is not able to replicate received cal proximity constraint, interplay of the social-connections,
messages, except delivering to the destination node. Synthetic and user common interests. The authors argued that these
and trace-driven simulations reveal that CAIS is efficient in parameters will establish their combined effects on D2D
dealing with the selfish behavior of nodes, while improving user clustering. Specifically, the set of powerful UEs (i.e.,
data delivery ratio, reducing data delivery latency and lowering socially) in a cluster are identified. In fact, the authors leverage
closeness centrality by incorporating social-trust and interest delivering streams of HD videos, SoCast system is proposed
similarity jointly among UEs. For clustering the D2D network, in [182], which is based on social phenomena known as
CRP is utilized and interest based social-graph is introduced. social-trust and social-reciprocity. Coalition game framework
Consequently, the selected socially powerful UEs work as is used for the SoCast system, where clients are attracted with
relays or transmission sources in a given cluster. The proposed incentives to share video packets with one another in view of
clustering scheme performance is demonstrated both in terms social-ties among them and considering the video encoding
of the content dissemination time and system throughput. structure. SoCast performance is verified through numerical
The information dissemination in MSN is considered a new studies with real video traces.
challenge when the diverse features of social-ties and users’ Summary: To summarize the state-of-the-art research
behaviors are taken into account [178]. Particularly, users’ contributions in each application category, we propose clas-
interested information may diverge that can substantially affect sification as shown in Table III considering the approaches
the information diffusion. In this regard, an analytical model is and utilized social features. Based on the social features
developed to evaluate the epidemic information dissemination classification, which include social-ties, trust, community, and
in MSNs. The change of mobile users’ interests are also selfishness, it is revealed from Table III that majority (84%)
considered by introducing two novel elements known as pre- researchers utilized social-ties feature in their approaches.
immunity and immunity. Moreover, through extensive trace- Especially, the social feature ties is utilized in almost all
driven simulations, the proposed model accuracy is verified. contributions of caching and traffic offloading. Furthermore,
Wang et al. [179] demonstrated that socially-aware file shar- the second feature that gained the attention of researchers is
ing approach can reduce delay and offload the overburdened social-trust, and it is used together with the social-ties in max-
BS. The authors first divided the users into several groups imum contributions. However, community feature is merely
according to their data requirements. Then, in each group a used in the content dissemination application. In content
central user (i.e., seed) bearing largest trust degree receives the dissemination subsection, selfishness feature is just used twice.
target files first. Subsequently, the files are shared with other Generally, there is a primitive assumption that mobile cellular
users based on their social-relationships. The authors verify nodes are fully cooperative in D2D communications. However,
via theoretical analysis and simulation results that the social- in practical scenarios and applications, nodes may not be
connections among users tremendously improve the network always available due to diverse reasons, including limitation
throughput and the users’ QoE. of resources, privacy concerns, or other social targets. In other
The authors in [180] framed the performance improvement words, mobile users may exhibit selfish behavior for all or
problem of information diffusion over the online socially- some nodes [63]. The promise of widespread adoption for
aware networks utilizing the cascade model. From the perspec- socially-aware D2D communications paradigm can only be
tive of network science, both the value-strength and social- realized; when the cellular network operators offer adequate
strength were defined. Further, the connection between the incentives that engage human beings, and their devices into a
information diffusion performances and value/social strengths plethora of collective activities.
is highlighted in both the networks, i.e., static and mobile net-
works. Also, a mobility model based on the time-varying graph V. D ISCUSSION
is designed. Coupled with mobility model and social-strength, In this section, we summarize the technical problems
a socially-aware information transmission approach is framed. and applications of D2D communications based on social-
The proposed approach not only ameliorates the propagation awareness. Next, we discuss the learned lessons, followed by
efficiency, but also improves the mobile networks’ information technical challenges and open problems for future investiga-
coverage ratio. For validation of theoretical analysis, numer- tion.
ous experiments are conducted in terms of the information
coverage ratio over different networks. These networks are the
Barabási-Albert scale-free network, the Watts-Strogatz small- A. Summarizing Socially-Aware D2D Communications
world network, the real-world Flickr network, and over the As discussed before, we categorize the solutions of the
TVG-based mobile network. technical problems in socially-aware D2D communications
In another work, Orsino et al. [181] put forward a novel based on social features as shown in Tables I and II . We focus
scheme for content diffusion by combining D2D commu- on different social-connections with regard to physical con-
nications with multicasting and social-notions. Specifically, nectivity. The socially-aware D2D communications’ technical
the LTE network is considered and a scenario is assumed, problems are categorized in peer discovery and link admission,
where a content is to be distributed among the users. During resource allocation and interference management, throughput
the process, various transmission modes such as multicast, optimization, and energy efficiency. The considered or applied
unicast and D2D communications can be leveraged by the social features in addressing these technical issues include
user to collect and forward the information in the system social-ties, social-trust, social-community and selfishness. By
efficiently. The proposed scheme performance is compared categorizing social features, we conclude that majority of the
with legacy multicast technology. It is demonstrated that research contributions are based on social-ties and social-trust,
considerable benefits are achieved, such as reduced average while few works leveraged social-community and selfishness.
diffusion time per UE, increased average UE throughput, and Also, we highlight the main techniques employed in each
showed fairness. Similarly, to meet unprecedented demand on proposal against corresponding technical issues.
Table III: Classification of Socially-aware D2D applications based on social features

Applications Utilized Social features
Applications References Year Approach Ties Trust Community Selfishness
Zhang et al.[76] 2013 Indian Buffet Process is used to model data dissemination, and Y - - -
traffic offloading algorithm is devised for offloading traffic and
increasing data rate.
Zhang et al.[130] 2014 Social trust based cooperative networking framework is proposed Y Y - -
that utilizes cooperative D2D relaying.
Zhu et al. [149] 2016 Social-aware caching game (SACG) is deployed to reduce cost of Y - - -
obtaining data in the network.
Caching Ma et al.[150] 2016 Discrete generalized pursuit algorithm (DGPA) is utilized to increase Y - - -
throughput of the network.
Bacstuug et 2014 Proactive caching framework is deployed to cater peak data demands Y - - -
al.[151] and data traffic offloading.
Bai et al. [152] 2016 Hypergraph framework has been used to model a relationship among Y Y - -
common interests, social tie and physical layer.
Zhu et al. [153] 2011 Community and centrality features are utilized to propose duration - - Y -
aware caching protocol to deal unpredictable network topology in
DTN.
Cao et al. [155] 2014 Cooperative video multicast framework (SoCast) uses distributed Y Y - -
group algorithm based on coalition game theory to enhance
perception quality of video.
Pu et al. [156] 2016 Social-aware Named Data Network (sNDN) framework is devised Y - - -
for content retrieval.
Ioannidis et 2009 Weak ties are devised for data dissemination and edge expansion. Y - - -
al.[157]
Traffic offloading Wang et al. 2016 Tag-Assisted social-aware D2D sharing framework is utilized for Y Y - -
[158] data offloading in a mobile social. network.
Alim et al. [159] 2017 Optimization theory based cost-effective node selection approach for - - Y -
real-time content delivery utilizing social-community and nodes’
historical encounters.
Cao et al. [165] 2016 Socially aware joint task data offloading framework based on Y - - -
matching based and game theory schemes.
Computational Flores et al. 2016 Detectors to sense the infrastructure in proximity of a mobile user. Y - - -
offloading [166]
Flores et al. 2017 Social-aware hybrid offloading (HyMobi) comprising of D2D - - Y -
[167] communication, cloudlet and remote cloud. Credit and reputation
based incentive approach to foster users cooperation
Zhao et al. [118] 2015 Long-range links establishment strategy and optimal greedy - - Y -
algorithm.
Cao et al. [155] 2014 So-Cast, a cooperative video multi-cast framework based on Y - - -
coalition game theory and distributed algorithm.
Koutsopoulos et 2015 Heuristic algorithm based on Lagrangian relaxation with real Y - - -
al. [169] datasets for communication and social graphs.
Nunes et al. 2016 Group meeting aware forwarding strategy (GROUPS-NET) and - - Y -
[170] opportunistic routing protocol.
Zhao et al. [172] 2015 Three phase social-aware approach for D2D data dissemination in - - Y -
which first phase is for seed selection, and other two phases are for
data forwarding.
Ning et al. [173] 2017 CAIS, virtual credits for motivating selfish users to take part in data - - Y -
forwarding. On the basis of earned credits and cooperation level,
messages are replicated to other nodes.
Jedari et al. 2016 Game theoretical incentive scheme for social-aware routing called - Y - Y
[174] GISSO to motivate social selfish nodes in message relaying and
routing performance.
Wu et al. [175] 2017 Stackelberg game-based pricing mechanism is formulated for - - - Y
motivating core users to take part in videos distribution.
Zhao et al. [176] 2016 Single seed tree based dissemination (SSTBD) algorithm and Y - - -
multiple seed tree based dissemination (MSTBD) algorithm are
devised for seed selection and transmission scheduling.
Wu et al. [177] 2015 Chinese restaurant process (CRP) clustering scheme based on - Y - -
IS-DCRP and SI-CC computations.
Content Wang et al. 2015 File sharing mechanism based on social network for D2D Y - Y -
dissemination [179] communication for QoE.
Xu et al. [178] 2015 Epidemic information dissemination in MSNs. Y - - -
Wang et al. 2016 Selection of forwading nodes based on time varying graph (TVG) Y - - -
[180] and social strength.
Orsino et al. 2016 Viral information diffusion for minimizing the content delivery time Y - - -
[181] called social inter network contact time.
Cao et al. [182] 2016 So-Cast approach to motivate effective cooperation among mobile Y - - -
users using coalition game theory and distributed algorithm.
For socially-aware D2D applications shown in Table III. We limited battery may be reluctant to do collaboration. Neverthe-
also categorized the applications based on social features. The less, encouraging the users’ involvement is not a trivial task, as
socially-aware based applications include caching and traf- it needs observation of social-characteristics and behavior in
fic offloading, computational offloading and content dissem- order to put together the reward for D2D cooperation enchant-
ination. For improving D2D communications’ applications, ing. Selfish users pose adverse effects due to objective reasons
social-ties, social-trust, social-community and selfishness are including limited energy, buffer, device malfunctioning, and
considered. Comparing the different socially-aware D2D appli- subjective reasons including social-relations and privacy. It is
cations based on social features, we find that maximum works observed that selfish users are merely focused and interested
are based on social-ties, while few works utilized other social in maximizing their own gains or profits. Therefore, incentive
features. mechanisms need to be incorporated to stimulate such users’
We include all the latest relevant works in order to reflect the collaboration and entice more users to contribute in improving
latest advancements of socially-aware D2D communications. D2D communications. Such as in [189], it is generally con-
For each cited paper, we summarize the research techniques sidered that all nodes are interested in the similar category
employed for D2D communications’ technical problems and of payoff or reward, such as monetary, enhanced QoS or
applications as shown in Tables I, II and III. different types of discounts in already provided services [190].
Though, there are diverse approaches that combine incentive
mechanisms in D2D communication design. Among them
B. Lessons Learned
some incentive schemes are based on credit [191], self-interest
It is impossible to realize widespread adoption of socially- [192], reputation [193], pricing [194] and game theoretic
aware D2D communications until trust is established among frameworks including GISSO [174] and SoCast [182]. While,
the involved communicating entities. Apart from the trust, the other schemes are proposed to offer monetary incentives,
MNOs should offer adequate incentives to achieve users’ will- which include money-less and virtual checks or credits [171],
ingness. In this subsection, first, we show how to establish trust [173], [195].
among the system entities. Second, we discuss the number of
ways to incentivize the users. For effective D2D communication network, incentive mech-
1) Trust Establishment: In order to achieve universal anism design should jointly consider users’ altruistic and
implementation of the socially-aware D2D communication selfish behaviors. Since data dissemination involves mobile
paradigm, it is unlikely without embracing the trust con- nodes’ limited resources, therefore, the majority of the re-
cept among users, and between the network operators and search works considered that users behavior are completely
the end users. To alleviate the risks of users’ distrust and altruistic. It implies that users transmit messages to anybody
refusal, socially-aware D2D communication has to preserve they encounter, or consider users are completely selfish and
high degrees of trustworthiness in data distribution among demand ample incentives to contribute in data dissemination.
the concerned nodes. The concept of trust is quite complex, Actually, the mobile user has a tendency to play a double
multifaceted, and context dependent. In spite of the fact that role, for instance, he/she shows selfishness when dealing with
our everyday life decisions are mainly trust-based, but still strangers, and otherwise, shows altruism with other close
trust creation and administration in D2D communications are social-connections.
facing challenges. This is because of severe resource limita-
tions, wireless medium open nature, social, and the application Still, it is an open problem to design an effective incentive
networks. In socially-aware D2D communications’ literature, mechanism for the reluctant device users, and get most of
following metrics are used to measure social-trust properties, the potential gains of user cooperation. Three potential levels
which include nodes’ communication frequency, malicious or of user incentives are identified in [136] including social
benevolent behaviors, revealing of private information, and incentives, pragmatic incentives and indirect incentives, which
quality of reputation. One of the possibly prolific research can be applied to specific D2D scenarios. As we all know
trends in building trust relationships among entities is to lever- that D2D communications can bring significant monetary
age social-interactions by using the concept of OSNs. In this benefits (i.e., CAPEX and OPEX) to cellular operators apart
regard, Golbeck [183]–[185] presents the concept of social- from augmentation in QoS. When smart user devices with
trust by recommending the use of social networks as a bridge improved computational powers, storage and caching capabili-
to form trust-relations among communication entities. The ties, supporting multiple radio access technologies and sensing
concept of social-trust is being unified into the communication capability are utilized in their networks. Therefore, adequate
networks. Some trust propagation models built on the ideas sources of motivation or concrete incentives that facilitate the
of social networking have been put forward in multi-agent device-users’ decisions to extend their personal devices are
systems [186]–[188]. A combined trust metric that captures required to be involved. Moreover, the promise of widespread
aspects of wireless communications, OSNs, and corresponding adoption for socially-aware D2D communications paradigm
trust management, trust distribution and trust measurement can can only be realized, when the cellular network operators
be interesting research directions. offer adequate incentives (For example, MNOs can offer user’s
2) Social User Incentives: Social-incentive symbolizes the data plan discounts and dynamic pricing techniques [196])
social-connections based on reward. Taking into account co- that engage human beings and their devices into a plethora
operation cost and reward, two users lacking social-trust or of collective activities.
C. Technical Challenges and Open Problems the nodes. Hence, capacity in such network increases due to
node mobility [211]. Also, it is observed that delay in such
Social networks constitute of complex interactions among networks is inversely proportional to the mobile node speed.
different individuals, and hence are difficult to scrutinize. Since human beings are social animals, and for that reason,
Incorporating social-domain into D2D communications intro- their mobility is mostly influenced by social aspects and the
duces many technical challenges and open problems. Along community to which they belong. Thus, incorporating both the
with the existing work, we still need to pay attention to the social-domain and mobility factor will open new avenues, and
following issues. help in better understanding the practical D2D communication
1) Security and Privacy: Social networks are evolving networks.
continuously and recognized with a multitude of rich infor- For studying mobility traces, considerable research efforts
mation. This can reflect intricate social-interactions among are done to propose new mobility models that can emulate
a huge number of users with different individual interests real life movement features of humans [212]. There are several
and characteristics. Moreover, in any OSN, personal profile parameters leading the nature of mobility such as contact time,
of users may comprise of confidential personal information inter-contact time, remaining inter-contact time, return time,
coupled with many other day to day activities. In this regard, and flight length [213]. Through analysis of such parameters,
a question arises that how one can extract simple and valuable researchers attempted to generate different models that have
social-information, without violating users’ privacy is still the same character of movement as noticed in real life mobility
an open problem. OSN comprises of confidential personal traces. Similarly, several mobility models are proposed moti-
information. Therefore, to ensure secrecy and privacy, social vated by sociology and the social networks. These mobility
network operators should establish secure interfaces between models are based on the fact that human mobility mostly
their network infrastructure and D2D communications to avoid depends on its social-community and characteristics of social-
leakage of such information to unintended UEs. structure.
The security and privacy of D2D communications need 3) Modeling Practical and Efficient Approaches: There are
a perfect solution of key management and authentication, various issues when considering traffic-offloading via D2D
confidentiality and integrity, availability and dependability, communications, but initializing the content diffusion by suit-
personal information, access control and device location and able users (seeds) selection is one of the vital issues. The seeds
application privacy. For instance, key agreement and batch must be extremely potential ones to download the required
authentication and attribute-based encryption (ABE) for D2D content files and further to move around for sharing. Keeping
communications based on the social networks can be used for this in view, some more challenges need to be solved i.e.,
less routing messages to authenticate several users [98], [197]– (1) how to model and foretell the content sharing pattern
[202]. Key generation to ensure confidentiality and integrity of each user over interested content concerning individual
via physical layer is a special and interesting case to secure social-activities and life patterns? (2) how to know/quantify the
D2D communications. The key generation takes the benefit of similarity of the content? (3) how to devise efficient content
randomness and reciprocity of the wireless channels to assure distribution approach by leveraging rational social-interactions
security [42]. The key extraction protocol based on CSI is also among users when mobility is considered?
another interesting method to avoid leakage of key information To know/quantify the similarity of the content, the authors
[203]. For user personal information, personal data storage is [214] used the method to identify redundancy. In this ap-
an interesting idea to store, manage and deploy all important proach, a packet-level detection utilizes a cache, and traffic
and secret data in a systematic and secure method [204], [205]. payloads are fingerprinted by an improved version of the
In order to keep the device location anonymous and ensure the Jenkins hash. Data redundancy/similarity is detected through
application privacy, anonymity techniques (e.g., pseudonyms) comparison of the indexed payloads of each packet with the
[206]–[208] are preferred. These techniques don’t rely on already cached data. The same approach can be used for
centralized entities due to the opportunistic D2D communi- quantifying similar contents within D2D networks with little
cations. Multi-party and distributed cryptographic protocols amendments.
are necessary for D2D communications because users are dis- 4) Distributed Efficient Schemes: It is impossible for every
tributed without mutual trust in infrastructure less environment UE to obtain the global knowledge of social network structure.
[209]. Homomorphic encryption can also be used for D2D An alternative is to rely on centralized schemes that necessi-
communications authentication and integrity. It performs an tate to acquiring global information. It is enviable to adopt
operation on encrypted data without knowing the original data distributed formulation that allows each UE to take decisions
[210]. independently based on its own observations and information.
2) Mobility impact: Mobility factor is negligibly considered Then, it is pertinent to ask here that how to devise an efficient
in the socially-aware D2D communications. For instance, scheme that can make available reasonable incentive for each
while studying the capacity of ad-hoc networks, the nodes UE to enforce the required fairness in the decision-making
are considered immobile in maximum frameworks. The sys- process. This is still an open problem.
tem performance can be significantly improved by exploiting
user mobility coupled with social-awareness of devices. As VI. C ONCLUSION
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A quantitative study on real-world wireless traffic,” CoRR, 2016. B.S. degree in electronic engineering from Tsinghua
University, in 1997, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees
in electrical and computer engineering from the
University of Maryland, College Park, in 1999 and
Manzoor Ahmed received the B.E. (1996) and M.S 2003, respectively.
(2010) degrees in Electrical Engineering and Com- From 2000 to 2002, he was an R&D Engineer of
puter Science from Balochistan Engineering Univer- JDSU, Germantown, Maryland. From 2003 to 2006,
sity, and Ph.D. (2015) degree in communication and he was a Research Associate at the University of
information systems from the Beijing University of Maryland. From 2006 to 2008, he was an assistant
Posts and Telecommunications, China. From 1997 professor at Boise State University, Idaho. Currently,
to 2000, he served as a lecturer in Balochistan he is a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department as
Engineering University, Khuzdar, Pakistan. well as in the Computer Science Department at the University of Houston,
From 2000 to 2011, he served as a telecomm Texas. His research interests include wireless resource allocation and man-
engineer in government owned telecommunication agement, wireless communications and networking, game theory, big data
service provider NTC, Pakistan. Since 2015, he is analysis, security, and smart grid. Dr. Han received an NSF Career Award
working as a Post-doctorate researcher in the Electrical Engineering Depart- in 2010, the Fred W. Ellersick Prize of the IEEE Communication Society
ment at the University of Tsinghua, China. His research interests include in 2011, the EURASIP Best Paper Award for the Journal on Advances in
resource allocation and interference management in wireless communications Signal Processing in 2015, IEEE Leonard G. Abraham Prize in the field of
and networking, 5G, socially aware D2D communication, physical layer Communications Systems (best paper award in IEEE JSAC) in 2016, and
security, Fog and edge computing. He has several research publications in several best paper awards in IEEE conferences. Currently, Dr. Han is an IEEE
IEEE top Journals and Conferences. Dr. Manzoor received several awards, Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer.
which include distinction award from President of Pakistan, best employee
award in NTC, and the Best Paper Award in 2014 GameNets Conference.
Yong Li (M’09-SM’16) received the B.S. degree

in electronics and information engineering from
Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, China, in 2007 and the Ph.D. degree in
electronic engineering from Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China, in 2012. He is currently a Faculty
Member of the Department of Electronic Engineer-
ing, Tsinghua University.
Dr. Li has served as General Chair, TPC Chair,
TPC Member for several international workshops
and conferences, and he is on the editorial board
of three international journals. His papers have total citations more than
2300 (six papers exceed 100 citations, Google Scholar). Among them,
eight are ESI Highly Cited Papers in Computer Science, and four receive
conference Best Paper (run-up) Awards. He received IEEE 2016 ComSoc
Asia-Pacific Outstanding Young Researchers and Young Talent Program of
China Association for Science and Technology.
Muhammad Waqas received the B.Sc. and M.Sc.

degrees from the Department of Electrical Engi-
neering, University of Engineering and Technology
Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2009 and 2014, respectively.
He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree with the
Beijing National Research Center for Information
Science and Technology, Department of Electronic
Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
His current research interests are in the areas
of networking and communications including 5G
networks, D2D communication resource allocation
and physical layer security and information security, mobility investigation in
D2D communication, Fog computing and MEC.
Muhammad Sheraz received the B.Sc. degree in

Electrical Engineering from the University of Engi-
neering and Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2007
and the M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Electronic
Engineering from the University of Bradford, UK, in
2010. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree with
the Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China. His research interests
include wireless cooperative communication, D2D
communications, fog and edge computing, content
caching and content delivery network.
Depeng Jin (M’2009) received his B.S., M.S. and

Ph.D. degrees from Tsinghua University in 1995,
1997 and 2000, respectively. From 2000 to 2003, he
was an assistant professor. From 2004 to 2012, he
was an associate professor. Since 2012, he has been a
Professor with Department of Electronic Engineer-
ing, Tsinghua University. His research focuses on
communication and networking. His current inter-
ests are in the topics of software-defined networks,
wireless mobile network, and mobile big data.

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been

A Survey on Socially-Aware Device-to-Device

recent advances in the domain of socially-aware resource allo-

SUA D2D SA D2D Peer Discovery and SA D2D Caching and

Overview of SUA D2D

Social Features Social-Community SA D2D Security and SA D2D Content

Figure 2: Organization of socially-aware D2D communications survey

C. Social Features and have prominent loads of data diffusion in comparison to

technical issues, the authors in [71] leveraged reality trace.

Socially-Aware D2D Technical

Peer Discovery Based on Social

Central Node Central Node

Socially-Aware D2D Throughput

Zhang et al. [74] put forward a framework of socially-

evaluated by using real traces, which shows that small cell

complexity to a stable matching.

distributed power problems are simulated as an evolutionary

stochastic geometry are employed to analyze the stability of

critical services (e.g., map sharing for transportation systems)

Social Domain allowable actions. An action is basically a selection of one

the basis of weak-ties for disseminating data to the disjoint

online social activities, whereas regular users are less frequent

resources, such as computation and communication resources.

is framed on the small-scale scenario, where one surrogate Community

framework. Figure 11: An illustration of different scenarios in socially-

Table III: Classification of Socially-aware D2D applications based on social features

Yong Li (M’09-SM’16) received the B.S. degree

Muhammad Waqas received the B.Sc. and M.Sc.

Muhammad Sheraz received the B.Sc. degree in

Depeng Jin (M’2009) received his B.S., M.S. and

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