On the performance of SIC-free spatial modulation aided uplink NOMA under imperfect CSI

Abstract

In this paper, a spatial modulation aided uplink non-orthogonal multiple access (SM-NOMA) without successive interference cancellation (SIC) is proposed. The SIC-free SM-NOMA system is investigated under both perfect and imperfect channel state information (CSI). Moreover, on the receiver side, both SIC-based and SIC-free detection techniques are used to analyze the bit error rate (BER) performance of SM-NOMA. Finally, the performance of SIC-free SM-NOMA is evaluated and compared with the conventional NOMA, and SIC-based SM-NOMA. The results show that the SIC-free SM-NOMA outperforms conventional NOMA in terms of spectral efficiency, energy efficiency, and BER.