Wi-Fi Cooperation or D2D-based Multicast Content Distribution in LTE-A: A Comparative Analysis

Exploiting short-range technologies like Wi-Fi for achieving benefits in terms of throughput and energy consump-tion, has been among the first proposals to enhance the data transfer performance in cellular environments. Today, with the advent of high performing Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, supporting proximity based services in both licensed and unlicensed bands, has recently come into play. In the context of LTE-A systems, this paper proposes different solutions with reference to a "multicast content distribution service". A comparative analysis between Wi-Fi cooperation and the proposed D2D-based solutions is presented and their pros and cons will be illustrated. The cases where the early conceived wireless cooperation paradigm may still be of interest will be highlighted, while service delivery en-hancements obtained with D2D-based solutions will be evaluated. In particular, when compared to standard multicast solutions, content delivery time and energy savings up to respectively 40% and 80% can be obtained.