Downlink Non-orthogonal Multiple Access System Research Articles

Deep Learning Based Power Allocation Schemes for NOMA System with Imperfect SIC

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been a promising technology for 5G communication system. NOMA allows more than one user to utilize the same resource at the same time, which can lead to high performance in terms of spectral efficiency, energy efficiency or fairness. NOMA enables power domain multiplexing and separates the multiplexed signal by using successive interference cancellation (SIC). Therefore, the full benefit of NOMA depends on power allocation. However, in practical system, residual interference caused by SIC process can severely degrade a system performance. In this paper, we propose two power allocation schemes based on deep learning to alleviate the effect of imperfect SIC for downlink NOMA system, including a deep learning-based sum rate power allocation scheme (DL-SRPAS) and a deep learning-based energy-efficient power allocation scheme (DL-EEPAS). our two proposed schemes learn two optimal power allocation schemes provided through exhaustive search. We search the solution of the optimization problems, where two optimization problems are formulated to maximize the sum rate and the energy efficiency subject to a minimum user data rate requirement. The simulation results verify that our two proposed schemes can alleviate the effect of imperfect SIC and outperform two conventional power allocation schemes which maximize the sum rate and the energy efficiency without considering imperfect SIC. In addition, our proposed schemes achieve near-optimal performance with very low computational time.

Improper Gaussian Signaling for Downlink NOMA Systems With Imperfect Successive Interference Cancellation

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) exhibits superiority in spectrum efficiency which is particularly essential in the Internet of Things (IoT) system involving massive number of device connections. This paper addresses the achievable rate improvement for the downlink NOMA system, in the context of imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC), by means of the improper Gaussian signaling (IGS) technique. We investigate a basic scenario where the strong user transmits the conventional proper data, while the weak user adopts an improper signaling scheme. The users’ data rates are first formulated in terms of the impropriety degree of the IGS, under residual interference introduced by the imperfect SIC. In this way, analytical expressions for the best improper transmission can be characterized by jointly optimizing the user’s power and the impropriety degree, where their sufficient and necessary conditions are provided. When the strong user transmits with its maximum power, the IGS scheme always increases the achievable rate of the strong user while the weak user may also benefit. When the weak user transmits with its maximum power, such a scheme enables us optimize the achievable rate of the strong user under various levels of channel-to-noise ratios (CNR) and imperfect SIC. Finally, when both the users are imposed by quality of service (QoS) constraints, a Q-learning based solution is proposed to maximize their sum rate. Simulations on the downlink NOMA system support the analysis.

Performance of Outage Probability and Ergodic Sum Rate for Two-User Paired NOMA Downlink System

Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) is a technique to support a massive number of users to access the radio resources simultaneously and frequently. Existing conventional multiple access has been exhausting and insufficient for providing physical layer services in fifth Generation (5G) cellular systems. The user-pairing principle is adapted to resolve this issue that fulfils the maximum sum rate and channel utility. But it is lacking when a user with a near gain enters a user pair. Therefore, this paper considers a single pair occupying two different gain users who understand practical circumstances by evaluating outage probability using the stochastic geometry method. The paired users will calculate the ergodic sum rate and calculates the closed-loop solution for the outrage probability. The outage probability performance is obtained between NOMA paired users and the traditional multiple access approaches.

A Fairness Index Based on Rate Variance for Downlink Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access System

Aiming at the resource allocation problem of a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system, a fairness index based on sample variance of users’ transmission rates is proposed, which has a fixed range and high sensitivity. Based on the proposed fairness index, the fairness-constrained power allocation problem in NOMA system is studied; the problem is decoupled into the intra cluster power allocation problem and the inter cluster power allocation problem. The nonconvex optimization problem is solved by the continuous convex approximation (SCA) method, and an intra and inter cluster power iterative allocation algorithm with fairness constrained is proposed to maximize the total throughput. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can take into account intra cluster, inter cluster, and system fairness, and maximize the system throughput on the premise of fairness.

Secure transmission for uplink and downlink non-orthogonal multiple access system with imperfect channel state information

In this paper, we design a secure transmission scheme in uplink and downlink of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system. In this scenario, two pairs of base stationuser can operate under the presence of eavesdropper. The relay plays an important role to forward signals from group of base stations to serve distant users. However, the eavesdropper can overhear signal which leads to secure performance need be reconsidered. To provide secure performance, we derive the closed-form expressions for strictly positive secrecy capacity (SPSC). In addition, we rely on relay for enlarge coverage area. The channel conditions meet imperfect channel state information (CSI) which shows degraded secure performance. Results confirm the relationship between transmit power at the source and and SPSC how many main parameters affecting secure performance metric. Furthermore, simulation results show that the uplink and downlink NOMA technique improves secure performance in the low SPSC region. We further conduct analysis by using Monte-Carlo simulations.

On secrecy outage probability for downlink NOMA systems with relay–antenna selection

Secure transmission is essential for future non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system. This paper investigates relay–antenna selection to enhance physical-layer security of cooperative NOMA system in the presence of an eavesdropper, where multiple antennas are deployed at the relays, the users, and the eavesdropper. In order to reduce expense on radio frequency chains, selection combining (SC) is employed at both the relays and the users, whilst the eavesdropper employs either maximal-ratio combining or SC to process the received signals. Under the condition that the channel state information of the eavesdropping channel is available or unavailable, two effective relay–antenna selection schemes are proposed. Additionally, the closed-form expressions of secrecy outage probability (SOP) are derived for the proposed relay–antenna selection schemes. In order to gain more deep insights on the derived results, the asymptotic performance of the derived SOP is analyzed. In simulations, it is demonstrated that the theoretical results match well with the simulation results and the SOP of the proposed schemes is less than that of the conventional orthogonal multiple access scheme obviously.

Uplink-Downlink Duality of Multi-Cell Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Systems

Towards the sixth generation (6G) wireless communications, multiple access is a potential technology to achieve thousand times of traffic capacity enhancement comparing with 5G. This paper investigates the feasible signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) region for the multi-cell downlink and uplink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems. Within a cell, the signals of different users are multiplexed on a channel with different power levels and successive interference cancellation is applied at the receivers to decode the signals. For the downlink, based on Perron-Frobenius Theory, we first derive a necessary and sufficient condition for an SINR vector to be feasible under a fixed decoding order. Then, a closed-form expression for the feasible SINR region is given by the union of the SINR regions under all possible decoding orders. Following a similar idea, the expression of the feasible SINR region for the uplink is also derived. Furthermore, the duality between the multi-cell downlink and uplink NOMA systems is explored. It is proved that the two systems have same feasible SINR region under dual channels. Finally, we propose an efficient algorithm to approximate the SINR region boundary. Simulation results are provided to validate the efficiency of the algorithm and compare the performance with orthogonal multiple access scheme.

Error analysis of TAS‐OSTBC assisted downlink NOMA system over generalized η−μ fading Channel

SummaryIncorporation of multiple antennas in downlink non‐orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system helps in achieving better performance by exploiting different diversity schemes. To this end, we propose a general framework of transmit antenna selection (TAS)‐assisted orthogonal space‐time block code (OSTBC) transmission for multiple NOMA users. We derive exact expressions of probability density function of the TAS‐OSTBC processed signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) at the output of maximum‐ratio combiner of the NOMA users. Using well‐known moment generating function approach, we evaluate the error performance of TAS‐OSTBC assisted NOMA users over generalized η−μ fading channel in presence of perfect and imperfect successive interference cancelation. We investigate the proposed system in different multi‐antenna scenarios and accordingly observe better error performance of the users by increasing the number of transmit and receive antennas. We perform their asymptotic analysis leading to full‐diversity order at high SNR. For numerical evaluation, we truncate the infinite series in derived results and examine the upper bound of truncation error. We evaluate nth moment of the output SNR and obtain channel quality estimation index as a performance measure of the proposed NOMA system. Moreover, we investigate the influence of power coefficients and fading parameters, η and μ, on the error performance of TAS‐OSTBC‐assisted NOMA users. We also compare the derived error performances with the existing schemes, wherein we observe that the proposed system shows remarkable improvement in the bit error rate (BER) of the NOMA users. For validation, we execute simulations which closely match with the derived analytical results.

Spectral and energy efficiencies maximization in downlink NOMA systems

Due to the huge connectivity and ever-growing demands of diverse services and high data rate applications, more effective radio access techniques are required for the next generation wireless systems. Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a promising candidate which has been recognized as an effective multiple access technique that notably improves the spectral efficiency (SE). In addition to SE, energy efficiency (EE) is also attracting too much interest nowadays due to the limited power of end users (EU) and internet of things (IoT) devices, and the strict environmental concerns related to global carbon dioxide (CO2) emission of communication devices. However, in fact there is a trade-off relationship between SE and EE. In this paper, the SE-EE trade-off relationship in NOMA-based systems is mathematically modeled and analyzed. On the other hand, in order to attain an elastic SE-EE trade-off relationship, the problem is formulated as an optimization problem with an objective of maximizing the EE under the constraint of satisfying a minimum SE demand. Simulation results confirmed the theoretical findings of this study and further asserted the validation of the proposed power allocation scheme which aims to achieve a more flexible trad-off relationship between SE and EE.

Maximizing the Rate of IRS-Assisted Downlink NOMA Systems

Nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) techniques and intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) are being explored as potential essential technologies for future wireless communications. Accordingly, this paper provides a network framework for IRS-aided downlink NOMA transmission, in which IRS is employed to improve the NOMA system’s transmission performance, and optimization problems are raised to maximize the achievable rate. Given the fractional structure of multivariate coupling as presented in this study, the fractional problem first converts to a linear form; then, the semidefinite relaxation (SDR) algorithm is proposed to address nonconvex issues for a single-user scenario. As for a multiuser scenario, the alternating optimization (AO) algorithm is raised based on transmit beamforming and reflection phase shift matrix to settle relevant issues and mitigate computational complexity. The simulation results suggest that the algorithm described in this paper can significantly increase the signal’s achievable rate compared to the nondeployed IRS and IRS random phase-shifting schemes.

Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access: The Case of Improper Gaussian Signaling and Imperfect Successive Interference Cancellation

This paper studies a two-user downlink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system that adopts an improper Gaussian signaling (IGS) strategy to compensate for the performance loss due to imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC). Joint optimization problems are formulated to maximize the overall spectral efficiency and energy efficiency of a two-user NOMA system under minimum user-rate requirements and total power constraints. Sub-optimal solutions of IGS circularity coefficients and power allocation are obtained for the formulated problems. Furthermore, improper constellation diagrams are designed using widely linear transformation with predefined optimized IGS coefficients to study the impact of IGS on throughput and error performance. Simulation results show that the performance of IGS-based NOMA systems, where the IGS strategy is adopted by both users, outperforms that of the proper Gaussian signal (PGS)-based NOMA system under imperfect SIC.

Downlink NOMA Based Transmission Protocol for Performance Improvement in Time-Varying Wireless Network

In this research work, the authors propose an error constrained data transmission approach using non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) protocol with hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) and different packet combining schemes. In this proposed work, the transmitter simultaneously transmits two data packets to the users (UEs) by considering the superposition coding technique in the power domain. The decoding scheme of the receiver changes according to the message decoding status in the previous rounds. This combined protocol has the capability of realizing ultra-reliability, error correction power in high error prone wireless links. The receiver adopts successive interference cancelation (SIC) to decode its own packet. Retransmission process is performed when the data is erroneously received by the destination and the receiver corrects the error by applying HARQ with Packet Combining (HARQ-PC) and HARQ with Aggressive Packet Combining (HARQ-APC) schemes. This paper analyzes the data rates, outage probabilities and bit error rates of UEs for downlink NOMA systems with respect to the transmit power using some basic parameters. The proposed schemes can greatly outperform the conventional NOMA with HARQ (NOMA-HARQ) in terms of data rates, outage probability and bit error rate in dynamic wireless channels.

A Deep Q-Learning Bisection Approach for Power Allocation in Downlink NOMA Systems

In this work, we study the weighted sum-rate maximization problem for a downlink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system. With power and data-rate constraints, this problem is generally non-convex. Therefore, a novel solution based on the deep reinforcement learning (DRL) framework is proposed for the power allocation problem. While previous work based on DRL restrict the solution to a limited set of possible power levels, the proposed DRL framework is specifically designed to find a solution with a much larger granularity, emulating a continuous power allocation. Simulation results show that the proposed power allocation method outperforms two baseline algorithms. Moreover, it achieves almost 85% of the weighted sum-rate obtained by a far more complex genetic algorithm that approaches exhaustive search in terms of performance.

Cache‐enabled reinforcement learning scheme for power allocation and user selection in opportunistic downlink NOMA transmissions

Non‐orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) allows multiple user equipment (UE) to simultaneously share the same resource blocks using varying levels of transmit power at the base station (BS) side. Proper allocation of transmission power and selection of candidate users for pairing over the same resource block are critical for an efficient utilization of the available resources. Optimal UE selection and power splitting among paired UEs can be made through an exhaustive search over the space of all possible solutions. However, the cost incurred by such approach can render it practically infeasible. Reinforcement learning (RL) deploying double deep‐Q networks (DDQN) is a promising framework that can be adopted for tackling the problem. In this article, an RL‐based DDQN scheme is proposed for user pairing in opportunistic access to downlink NOMA systems with capacity‐limited backhaul link connections. The proposed algorithm relies on proactive data caching to alleviate the throttling caused by backhaul bottlenecks, and optimized UE selection and power allocation are accomplished through the continuous interaction between an RL agent and the NOMA environment to increase the overall system throughput. Simulation results are presented to showcase the near‐optimal strategy achieved by the proposed scheme. © 2022 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Markov‐based analysis for cooperative HARQ‐aided NOMA transmission scheme in 5G and beyond

AbstractIn the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication system, the non‐orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme has recently been proposed as a possible candidate for improving spectral efficiency. We look at power‐domain NOMA in this study, in which, multiple simultaneous transmissions are allowed at the same channel with different transmission powers. To achieve reliable transmissions in NOMA, the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) scheme can be integrated into NOMA. The performance of a downlink NOMA system using the Type I HARQ method is investigated in this research. This type of HARQ does not entail expensive device which is considered one of the requirements for a massive 5G‐based Internet of Things network. Unfortunately, in the literature, it has been shown that deriving closed‐form expressions for the outage probabilities of HARQ‐aided NOMA systems is intractable due to the incorporation of multiple fractional random variables. Consequently, in this article, we follow a simple yet efficient methodology to study our considered HARQ‐aided NOMA system. The HARQ‐assisted NOMA system on the downlink is modeled as an absorbing discrete‐time Markov chain (DTMC). Thereafter, under perfect and imperfect channel estimation, we use this model to examine system performance in terms of outage probability and estimated number of retransmissions. Interestingly, we demonstrate that our DTMC‐based analysis is straightforward, repeatable, and accurate. Moreover, in this article, we propose a cooperative HARQ (CHARQ) scheme for the downlink NOMA system. According to CHARQ, the users cooperate with the base station in the retransmission process that will result in improving the performance of NOMA. Monte Carlo simulations have been conducted to not only verify the accuracy of our DTMC‐based analysis, but also manifest the superiority of CHARQ over HARQ.

Efficient User Pairing for Performance Enhancement of Downlink NOMA Systems

In this paper, the resource allocation problem for user pairing (UP) in downlink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems is investigated. NOMA allows the use of one subcarrier for more than one user at the same time, thus increases the total capacity of the wireless communication system. However, users pairing is a challenging task in the NOMA systems, because a good channel quality subcarrier should be selected and allocated for the user to enhance the performance of NOMA systems. The proposed UP algorithm aims to enhance the sum rate of the paired users per subcarrier and consequently enhance the total sum rate of downlink NOMA systems. Moreover, the proposed UP algorithm target to improve the fairness of the users. The proposed UP algorithm is based on a simple search for the subcarrier with the minimum average channel gains to be assigned its paired users and then excluding it from the next searching process. The proposed scheme ensures the higher channel gain for users by giving the priority to the subcarrier with the minimum average channel gains during the user pairing process. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed UP algorithm can not only enhance the total sum rate compared with the random UP and conventional UP but also can enhance the fairness of the users. Moreover, it is clearly seen that the proposed UP algorithm provides the lowest outage probability.

Enhancing PHY-Security of FD-Enabled NOMA Systems Using Jamming and User Selection: Performance Analysis and DNN Evaluation

In this article, we study the physical-layer security (PHY-security) improvement method for a downlink nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system in the presence of an active eavesdropper. To this end, we propose a full-duplex (FD)-enabled NOMA system and a promising scheme, called the minimal transmitter selection (MTS) scheme, to support secure transmission. Specifically, the cell-center and cell-edge users act simultaneously as both receivers and jammers to degrade the eavesdropper channel condition. Additionally, the proposed MTS scheme opportunistically selects the transmitter to minimize the maximum eavesdropper channel capacity. To estimate the secrecy performance of the proposed methods, we derive an approximated closed-form expression for secrecy outage probability (SOP) and build a deep neural network (DNN) model for SOP evaluation. Numerical results reveal that the proposed NOMA system and MTS scheme improve not only the SOP but also the secrecy sum throughput. Furthermore, the estimated SOP through the DNN model is shown to be tightly close to other approaches, i.e., the Monte-Carlo method and analytical expressions. The advantages and drawbacks of the proposed transmitter selection scheme are highlighted, along with insightful discussions.

Joint Uplink and Downlink Resource Allocation in NOMA for End-to-End URLLC Services

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has great potential to increase spectral efficiency and reduce latency. However, reliability problems of NOMA limit its applications in ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC). For the first time in this letter, the optimal resource allocation scheme is investigated for uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) NOMA in URLLC communications. Specifically, we consider an UL and DL NOMA system with two-pair of users, and try to minimize the overall error probability under stringent URLLC requirements. Then, an optimal scheme for both UL and DL resources allocation is proposed, and a global optimal solution for both power control and channel blocklength allocation is obtained. Finally, simulation results show that NOMA significantly outperforms the orthogonal multiple access (OMA) subjected to the same power and channel blocklength levels and demonstrate the availability of NOMA for end-to-end (E2E) URLLC services.

Intelligent reflecting surface‐assisted downlink nonorthogonal multiple access systems

SummaryRecently, intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)‐based communication systems are analyzed for 6G and beyond wireless networks. In this paper, we propose an IRS‐assisted downlink nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system by considering separate IRS for near users (NUs) and far users (FUs). The optimal power allocation strategy among NUs and FUs is formulated for the proposed downlink IRS‐NOMA system. The symbol error probability and the sum‐rate performance of the IRS‐NOMA system are analyzed. Further, the impact of the modulation order, the number of reflecting surfaces, the number of phase shifts of reflected signals on symbol error, and power allocation between NU and FU is studied.

On the Effective Rate of NOMA in Underlay Spectrum Sharing

In this paper, we present the delay-constrained performance analysis of a multi-antenna-assisted multiuser non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) based spectrum sharing system over Rayleigh fading channels. We derive analytical expressions for the sum effective rate (ER) for the downlink NOMA system under a peak interference constraint. In particular, we show the effect of the availability of different levels of channel state information (instantaneous and statistical) on the system performance. We also show the effect of different parameters of interest, including the peak tolerable interference power, the delay exponent, the number of antennas and the number of users, on the sum ER of the system under consideration. An excellent agreement between simulation and theoretical results confirms the accuracy of the analysis.