A method, comprising: identifying, by a scheduler in a base station, a group of user equipment, UEs, in a radio access network, the group including a transmitting UE and a plurality of receiving UEs; sending, by the scheduler, control information including probe signal parameters to the transmitting UE and to the receiving UEs; sending, by the transmitting UE, a probe signal using a probe signal resource block to the receiving UEs, wherein transmission of the probe signal to the at least one other UE occurs directly as a UE-to-UE communication without going through the base station, wherein the base station does not utilize the probe signal resource block and does not transmit or receive the probe signal, and the transmission of the probe signal does not go through the base station, and wherein the probe signal is generated in accordance with the probe signal parameters; measuring a parameter, by the receiving UEs, of the probe signal wherein the measured parameter is an indication of interference; sending to the scheduler, by the receiving UEs, the measured parameter, including performance metrics; and receiving by the scheduler, from the receiving UEs, the performance metrics relating to receipt of the probe signal sent by the transmitting UE based on the probe signal parameters; the method further comprising: selecting, by the scheduler, one of the receiving UEs based on the performance metrics; pairing, by the scheduler, the transmitting UE with the selected one of the receiving UEs; assigning, by the scheduler, a resource block to the selected one of the receiving UEs for downlink transmission from a base station in the radio access network and assigning the same resource block to the transmitting UE for uplink transmission to the base station; and instructing, by the scheduler, the transmitting UE to transmit uplink traffic to the base station over the assigned resource block and instructing the selected one of the receiving UEs to receive downlink traffic from the base station over the assigned resource block; wherein a performance metric received from a particular one of the receiving UEs is indicative of signal-to-noise ratio of the probe signal as detected by the particular one of the receiving UEs. identifying, by a scheduler in a base station, a group of user equipment, UEs, in a radio access network, the group including a transmitting UE and a plurality of receiving UEs; sending, by the scheduler, control information including probe signal parameters to the transmitting UE and to the receiving UEs; sending, by the transmitting UE, a probe signal using a probe signal resource block to the receiving UEs, wherein transmission of the probe signal to the at least one other UE occurs directly as a UE-to-UE communication without going through the base station, wherein the base station does not utilize the probe signal resource block and does not transmit or receive the probe signal, and the transmission of the probe signal does not go through the base station, and wherein the probe signal is generated in accordance with the probe signal parameters; measuring a parameter, by the receiving UEs, of the probe signal wherein the measured parameter is an indication of interference; sending to the scheduler, by the receiving UEs, the measured parameter, including performance metrics; and receiving by the scheduler, from the receiving UEs, the performance metrics relating to receipt of the probe signal sent by the transmitting UE based on the probe signal parameters; the method further comprising: selecting, by the scheduler, one of the receiving UEs based on the performance metrics; pairing, by the scheduler, the transmitting UE with the selected one of the receiving UEs; assigning, by the scheduler, a resource block to the selected one of the receiving UEs for downlink transmission from a base station in the radio access network and assigning the same resource block to the transmitting UE for uplink transmission to the base station; and instructing, by the scheduler, the transmitting UE to transmit uplink traffic to the base station over the assigned resource block and instructing the selected one of the receiving UEs to receive downlink traffic from the base station over the assigned resource block; wherein a performance metric received from a particular one of the receiving UEs is indicative of signal-to-noise ratio of the probe signal as detected by the particular one of the receiving UEs. selecting, by the scheduler, one of the receiving UEs based on the performance metrics; pairing, by the scheduler, the transmitting UE with the selected one of the receiving UEs; assigning, by the scheduler, a resource block to the selected one of the receiving UEs for downlink transmission from a base station in the radio access network and assigning the same resource block to the transmitting UE for uplink transmission to the base station; and instructing, by the scheduler, the transmitting UE to transmit uplink traffic to the base station over the assigned resource block and instructing the selected one of the receiving UEs to receive downlink traffic from the base station over the assigned resource block; wherein a performance metric received from a particular one of the receiving UEs is indicative of signal-to-noise ratio of the probe signal as detected by the particular one of the receiving UEs.