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Direct communication between two or more devices without the intervention of a base station, known as device-to-device (D2D) communication, is a promising way to improve performance of cellular networks in terms of spectral and energy efficiency. The D2D communication paradigm has been largely exploited in non-cellular technologies such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi but it has not yet been fully incorporated into existing cellular networks. In this regard, a new proposal focusing on the integration of D2D communication into LTE-A has been recently approved by the 3GPP standardization community as discussed in this paper. In cellular networks, D2D communication introduces several critical issues, such as interference management and decisions on whether devices should communicate directly or not. In this survey, we provide a thorough overview of the state of the art focusing on D2D communication, especially …