On the impact of IQI on cooperative NOMA with direct links in the presence of imperfect CSI

Cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access (CNOMA) is considered as a promising technique to improve network coverage, reliability and transmission for future wireless communication networks. Meanwhile, transceivers can suffer from a number of hardware imperfections that will significantly reduce their performance, such as phase noise and in-phase/quadrature-phase imbalance (IQI). In this paper, we investigate the effect of in-phase and quadrature-phase imbalance (IQI) on CNOMA with direct links in the presence of imperfect channel state information (ICSI). The outage probability (OP) and throughput expressions are derived to evaluate the performance behaviors of the CNOMA with direct links under the IQI and ICSI imperfections. Theoretical analyzes are verified by Monte Carlo simulation. The effect of the IQI on the CNOMA with the direct links has been studied with different parameters (image rejection ratio (IRR), power allocation) and compared with conventional NOMA to clearly observe the degrading effects of imperfections on the systems. The simulation results demonstrate that the IQI and ICSI have a negative impact on the outage and throughput performance.     

Optimization design of RIS-assisted high-capacity visible light communications based on HDMA

In this paper, a new non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme is proposed for the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) assisted high-capacity visible light communication (VLC) system, which is named hybrid domain multiple access (HDMA). HDMA enjoys the benefit of hybrid-domain signals, including the power domain, code domain, and frequency domain, where the message passing algorithm (MPA) and successive interference cancellation (SIC) detectors are jointly used at the HDMA receiver. Furthermore, to achieve a higher communication capacity for the VLC system, we proposed an optimization model by jointly optimizing the power allocation ratio and RIS reflection units. The simulation results verified the proposed scheme. By comparing the system capacity of different RIS allocation schemes and multiple access methods, the VLC system based on HDMA proposed in this paper can significantly improve its communication capacity.     

On the performance of a virtual user pairing scheme to efficiently utilize the spectrum of unpaired users in NOMA

This paper evaluates the performance of a virtual user pairing scheme that efficiently utilizes the spectrum of unpaired users in non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), termed as VP-NOMA. The scheme aims at utilizing the frequency bands of those users which remain unpaired due to the non-uniform distribution of users in a cellular area. We consider a case where the cell edge users are more than the cell center users, so that complete one-to-one correspondence does not exist between all cell center and cell edge users to be accommodated/paired using conventional NOMA (C-NOMA) user pairing. Thus, some cell edge users remain unpaired, and are served using conventional multiple access (OMA) schemes. In such scenario, VP-NOMA pairs a single cell center user with two or more clustered (closely located) cell edge users over non-overlapping frequency bands, thus enabling the cell center user to efficiently use the frequency bands of these previously unpaired cell edge users. Performance of VP-NOMA in terms of ergodic sum capacity (ESC), outage probability (OP), and outage sum capacity (OSC), is analyzed through comprehensive mathematical derivations and simulations for a generalized system model. Moreover, the mathematical analysis is validated through close concordance between analytical and simulation results of ESC, OP, and OSC.     

Performance analysis of overlay cognitive NOMA network with imperfect SIC and imperfect CSI

In this paper, we investigate a multiple users cooperative overlay cognitive radio non-orthogonal multiple access (CR-NOMA) network in the presence of imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC) and imperfect channel state information (CSI). In the context of cellular network, cell-center cognitive secondary users act as relays to assist transmission from the primary user (PU) transmitter to the cell-edge PU receiver via NOMA. According to the received signals between the primary transmitter and multiple cognitive secondary center users, the best cell-center cognitive SU with the maximum signal to noise ratio (SNR) is selected to transmit the PU’s signals and its own signal to cell-edge users through NOMA principle. Then, the PU cell-edge user combine the signals received from direct transmission in the first phase and relay transmission from the best cell-center cognitive SU in the second phase by selection combining (SC). To measure the performance of the system quantitatively, we derive the end-to-end outage probability and capacity for the primary and secondary networks by taking the imperfect SIC and CSI into consideration. Finally, the performance analysis is validated by the simulations, and show that serious interference caused by imperfect SIC and (or) imperfect CSI reduce the system performance.     

Secrecy sum rate maximization for a MIMO-NOMA uplink transmission in 6G networks

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), as a well-qualified candidate for sixth-generation (6G) mobile networks, has been attracting remarkable research interests due to high spectral efficiency and massive connectivity. The aim of this study is to maximize the secrecy sum rate (SSR) for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)-NOMA uplink network under the maximum total transmit power and quality of service (QoS) constraints. Thanks to the generalized singular value decomposition method, the SSR of NOMA is compared with conventional orthogonal multiple access and other baseline algorithms in different MIMO scenarios. Due to the subtractive and non-convex nature of the SSR problem, the first-order Taylor approximation is exploited to transform the original problem into a suboptimal concave problem. Simulation results are provided and compared with some other benchmarks to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed method.     

Game theory-based radio resource allocation in NOMA vehicular communication networks supported by UAV

Vehicular communication networks are emerging as a promising technology to provide high-quality internet service such as entertainment for road users via infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication, and to guarantee road users’ safety via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. Some technical issues that impact the performance of these networks are the lack of or poor communication paths between vehicles, and the limitation of radio resources. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as promising solutions for supporting vehicular networks could provide communication coverage in hazardous environments and areas with no capacities for installation or maintenance of ground base stations (BSs). Also, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) methods can improve spectral and energy efficiency and thereby allow more users to be connected to the desired network. In this paper, exploring the NOMA, we develop a scheme for optimum resource allocation in presence of a UAV that supports vehicular communications. Resource allocation for this scenario is formulated as a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problem. Due to the high complexity of such problems, we propose two low-complexity near-optimal methods. First, we apply difference-of-concave-functions (DC) approximations to solve the problem in an iterative process. Next, we use Stackelberg game-based method for efficient solving, and then, closed-form expressions of optimal power allocations using KKT-conditions are derived. Simulations illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme along with the Stackelberg game-based method.     

Contract Theory-Based Incentive Mechanism for Full Duplex Cooperative NOMA with SWIPT Communication Networks

Cooperative Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) with Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer (SWIPT) communication can not only effectively improve the spectrum efficiency and energy efficiency of wireless networks but also extend their coverage. An important design issue is to incentivize a full duplex (FD) relaying center user to participate in the cooperative process and achieve a win–win situation for both the base station (BS) and the center user. Some private information of the center users are hidden from the BS in the network. A contract theory-based incentive mechanism under this asymmetric information scenario is applied to incentivize the center user to join the cooperative communication to maximize the BS’s benefit utility and to guarantee the center user’s expected payoff. In this work, we propose a matching theory-based Gale–Shapley algorithm to obtain the optimal strategy with low computation complexity in the multi-user pairing scenario. Simulation results indicate that the network performance of the proposed FD cooperative NOMA and SWIPT communication is much better than the conventional NOMA communication, and the benefit utility of the BS with the stable match strategy is nearly close to the multi-user pairing scenario with complete channel state information (CSI), while the center users get the satisfied expected payoffs.     

Energy efficiency maximization for IRS-assisted NOMA networks

In this paper, we consider a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system assisted by intelligent reflecting surface (IRS). As an emerging technology that has received widespread attention, IRS can reconfigure the wireless channel environment by adjusting the relationship between the incident angle and the exit angle, thereby improving system performance. Our goal is to use the flexible assistance of IRS to achieve the maximum energy efficiency of the NOMA system. Our design objects are the beam vector design of the base station and the phase matrix design of the IRS. The original problem is highly non-convex. We consider using the block coordinate descent method to design the phase matrix and beam vector separately. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme has better performance than traditional OMA and systems without IRS assistance.     

Joint terminal-AP association and power allocation for NOMA-enabled space–air–ground integrated networks

This paper considers a space–air–ground integrated network (SAGIN) to provide network access services for aerial and terrestrial terminals. The non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is used for improving spectral efficiency in the uplink transmission between terminals and access points (APs) in SAGIN. A sum rate maximization optimization problem is formulated by optimizing terminal-AP association and power allocation, while simultaneously satisfying the constraints of transmit power, network coverage characteristics, and quality-of-service (QoS) requirements of both aerial and terrestrial terminals. To deal with the formulated mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) optimization problem, we first decouple it into separated terminal-AP association and power allocation problems. Then, we adopt the Q-learning algorithm to solve the terminal-AP association subproblem. Based on the obtained terminal-AP association solution, an iterative power allocation algorithm is developed by exploiting the Lagrange dual method. Moreover, the computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is further analyzed. Simulation results demonstrate that, compared with other schemes, our proposed algorithm can achieves a better performance in terms of the achievable sum rate, average achievable rate, and outage probability.     

System throughput maximization in IRS-assisted phase cooperative NOMA networks

This work investigates performance of system throughput in intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRSs)-enabled phase cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) framework. By exploiting heterogeneous cognitive radio networks concept the aim is to maximize the sum rate of secondary users in the proposed phase cooperative downlink network configuration via optimization solutions. However, the optimization problem comes out to be NP-hard and precludes direct solution. Hence, an alternating optimization is applied at the primary network to solve the maximization problem by exploiting the transmit beamforming (BF) at the power station (PS) and phase shift optimization at the IRS. Later, sum rate maximization for secondary network is performed by utilizing phase shifts of primary network via phase cooperation. In order to find global optimal solutions for active beamformers at both PSs, a branch-reduce-and-bound (BRnB) method is used whereas, passive phase shift optimization at the primary PS is performed via a simple iterative solution, i.e., the element-wise block coordinate descent method. For the proposed framework, Monte-Carlo simulations are performed where the optimality of the global solution is compared with heuristic BF methods including minimum-mean-square-error/regularized zero-forcing-beamforming (ZFBF) and ZFBF. The BRnB algorithm sets an upper performance bound by improving the sum rate of users in comparison with the conventional heuristic BF schemes. This work signifies the utilization of phase cooperation in IRS-assisted NOMA networks for a multi-user environment.