Coded Caching Clusters with Device-to-Device Communications

We consider a geographically constrained caching community where popular data files are cached on mobile terminals and distributed through Device-to-Device (D2D) communications. To ensure availability, data files are protected against user mobility, or churn, with select caching and erasure coding methods. Communication and storage costs are considered, with an objective of minimizing the consumption of radio resources, given an available storage size. We focus on finding the coding method that minimizes the overall cost. Closed-form expressions for the expected consumption of radio resources incurred by data delivery and redundancy maintenance are derived. Closed form transmission costs in a circular caching community with a specific node density and caching method are calculated, when cost obeys a power law of distance. Our results are illustrated by numerical examples and verified by extensive computer simulations.