The uplink/downlink (UL/DL) decoupled access, which allows users to associate with different base stations (BSs), including small BSs (SBSs) and macro BSs (MBSs), has emerged as a network architecture in heterogeneous cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communications. It can be tailored to mitigate the signal interference and attenuation impairments that cell-edge vehicles face, while vehicles closer to a BS can opt for coupled access. Therefore, a UL/DL intelligent decoupled access network that integrates decoupled and coupled access approaches is urgently needed for C-V2X communications. In this paper, we present a novel framework for UL/DL intelligent decoupled access in C-V2X networks in the context of fifth-generation mobile communications (5G) and beyond 5G (B5G). We propose a joint optimization approach for radio resource allocation, power control, and user association to enhance the network throughput of UL and DL while meeting the service quality requirements of vehicle users. Specifically, we formulate the problem as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem and transform it into a standard convex optimization problem by introducing various auxiliary variables. An efficient iterative algorithm based on successive convex optimization techniques is introduced to obtain a sub-optimal solution. The proposed framework uniquely integrates decoupled and coupled access modes within a unified optimization formulation, enabling dynamic mode selection based on network load. Extensive simulation results demonstrate a significant performance improvement of the proposed UL/DL intelligent decoupled access in C-V2X networks compared with benchmark schemes.
Jiao et al. (Mon,) studied this question.