a central processing unit arranged to determine, based on the configuration information, at most one discovery resource element for sending the device discovery signals in a discovery resource period indicated by the configuration information, the discovery resource element being obtained by dividing radio resources in the discovery resource period by the central processing unit in a manner of time division multiplexing and/or frequency division multiplexing; and

a second communication unit arranged to send the device discovery signals on the determined discovery resource element.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a user equipment including the apparatus for sending device discovery signals described above.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a method for sending device discovery signals, which includes:

acquiring configuration information indicating discovery resources for device discovery;

determining discovery resource elements for sending the device discovery signals in a discovery resource period indicated by the configuration information, the discovery resource elements being obtained by dividing radio resources in the discovery resource period in a manner of time division multiplexing and/or frequency division multiplexing; and

sending the device discovery signals on the determined discovery resource elements.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a method for sending device discovery signals, which includes: