Mode division multiple access: a new scheme based on orbital angular momentum in millimetre wave communications for fifth generation

Abstract

Compared with the conventional degrees of freedom, the orbital angular momentum (OAM), which describes the helical phase structure of electromagnetic wave, provides a new degree of freedom. As a new multiple access scheme, mode division multiple access (MDMA) is constructed in millimetre wave frequency band utilising the orthogonality and high dimensionality in this study. Various traditional resources such as frequency, time and code pattern have been shared. Therefore, addresses of signals from different terminal users can be distinguished by OAM mode to realise multi-address connection. In this study, the theoretical analysis of the number of terminals in MDMA scheme is carried out. According to the analysis results, infinite terminals can be connected together in the ideal case. Moreover, the simulation results show that compared with the conventional multi-input multi-output millimetre wave communication systems, the performance indicators of MDMA millimetre wave communication systems are improved remarkably.