With the unprecedented new capabilities introduced by modern broadband wireless networks, public safety agencies are increasingly depending on such networks for their mission critical communications. One of the key enablers for this adoption is the Device to Device (D2D) communication, where mobiles can connect directly between each others, without the need for a base station nor a switching core to handle and route the traffic. This feature is a vital communication backup in case of a network infrastructure failure or a natural disaster. In this paper, we analytically quantify the cellular network performance during massive infrastructure failure, where some terminals can play the role of low-power relay nodes forming multi-hop communication links to assist farther terminals outside the reach of the healthy network coverage. Namely, we analytically determine the D2D effect in alleviating the damage caused by the disaster. The study is based on stochastic geometry analysis, and presents a novel analytical methodology, applicable to wide scenarios of network conditions and parameters. This methodology is verified through Monte-Carlo simulations for practical network parameters based on the latest 3GPP recommendations.
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