Non-orthogonal multiple access for machine-type communications toward 6G

Abstract. Massive machine-type communications (mMTC) is one of the main focus areas in the fifth generation of wireless communications. It is also the fastest-growing field in terms of the number of devices. The massive increase in devices connected to the internet and global data traffic creates unprecedented requirements for future generations of wireless communications. One of the key technologies for the performance of the system is the utilized multiple access (MA) scheme. The conventional orthogonal MA (OMA) schemes from the earlier generations fail to satisfy the increasing demands for connectivity and spectral efficiency. On the contrary, non-orthogonal MA (NOMA) schemes offer the connectivity and spectral efficiency needed to enable mMTC. NOMA does this by allowing multiple users to transmit their data through the same resource blocks (RBs) simultaneously. NOMA is generally divided into two categories, namely power domain (PD-) NOMA and code domain (CD-) NOMA. PD-NOMA utilizes the power domain for the multiplexing, whereas CD-NOMA uses the code domain. This thesis focuses on the fundamentals of NOMA, MTC, and what NOMA can offer to MTC. We will also discuss the challenges and open problems that need to be solved. Finally, the thesis includes some simulations that demonstrate NOMA in practice.Ei-ortogonaalinen monikäyttö kone-tyyppisessä kommunikaatiossa kohti 6G:tä. Tiivistelmä. Massiivinen kone-tyyppinen kommunikaatio (mMTC) on yksi viidennen sukupolven langattoman viestinnän pääpainopisteistä. Se on myös nopeimmin kasvava osa-alue, kun katsotaan laitteiden lukumäärää. Internetiin yhdistettyjen laitteiden ja globaalin tietoliikenteen valtava kasvu luo ennennäkemättömiä vaatimuksia tuleville langattoman viestinnän sukupolville. Yksi avainteknologioista järjestelmän suorituskyvyn kannalta on käytetty monikäyttömenetelmä (MA). Tavanomaiset ortogonaaliset MA (OMA) -järjestelmät eivät saavuta yhdistettävyyden ja spektritehokkuuden kasvavia vaatimuksia. Sitä vastoin ei-ortogonaaliset MA (NOMA) -järjestelmät tarjoavat mMTC:n mahdollistamiseen tarvitun yhdistettävyyden ja spektritehokkuuden. NOMA saavuttaa tämän sallimalla usean käyttäjän lähettää dataa saman resurssilohkon kautta samanaikaisesti. NOMA voidaan yleisesti jakaa kahteen kategoriaan, tehoalueen NOMA:an ja koodialueen NOMA:an. Tämä työ keskittyy NOMA:n ja MTC:n perusteisiin ja siihen, mitä NOMA voi tarjota MTC-käyttökohteille. Työssä käydään myös läpi ratkaisuja vaativat haasteet ja avoimet ongelmat. Lopuksi työ sisältää simulaatioita, jotka mallintavat NOMA:n toimintaa käytännössä

Maximizing Connection Density in NB-IoT Networks with NOMA

International audienceWe address the issue of maximizing the number of connected devices in a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network using non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). The scheduling assignment is done on a per-transmit time interval (TTI) basis and focuses on efficient device clustering. We formulate the problem as a combinatorial optimization problem and solve it under interference, rate and sub-carrier availability constraints. We first present the bottom-up power filling algorithm (BU), which solves the problem given that each device can only be allocated contiguous sub-carriers. Then, we propose the item clustering heuristic (IC) which tackles the more general problem of non-contiguous allocation. The novelty of our optimization framework is twofold. First, it allows any number of devices to be multiplexed per sub-carrier, which is based on the successive interference cancellation (SIC) capabilities of the network. Secondly, whereas most existing works only consider contiguous sub-carrier allocation, we also study the performance of allocating non-contiguous sub-carriers to each device. We show through extensive simulations that non-contiguous allocation through IC scheme can outperform BU and other existing contiguous allocation methods

Analysis of Downlink Connectivity in NB-IoT Networks Employing NOMA with Imperfect SIC

International audienceWe study the problem of maximizing the number of served devices in a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) based Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network for supporting massive connectivity in the downlink. We analyze this problem under practical system limitations of imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC) at the receiver along with data rate, power and bandwidth constraints. We propose a strategy for joint device and power allocation through an iterative solution for a system of linear equations on each sub-carrier that maximizes the number of connected devices. We evaluate the performance of the proposed solution over a wide range of service scenarios through extensive computer simulations and demonstrate the sensitivity of connectivity in power domain NOMA based NB-IoT systems to the residual interference resulting from imperfect SIC

Downlink Connection Density Maximization for NB-IoT Networks using NOMA with Perfect and Partial CSI

International audienceWe address the issue of maximizing the number of connected devices in a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network using non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in the downlink. We first propose an optimal joint sub-carrier and power allocation strategy assuming perfect channel state information (CSI) called Stratified Device Allocation (SDA), that maximizes the connectivity under data rate, power and bandwidth constraints. Then, we generalize the connectivity maximization problem to the case of partial CSI, where only the distancedependent path-loss component of the channel gain is available at the base station (BS). We introduce a novel framework called the Stochastic Connectivity Optimization (SCO) framework. In this framework, we propose a heuristic improvement to SDA namely SDA with Excess Power (SDA-EP) algorithm for operation under partial CSI. Furthermore, we derive a concave approximation (SCO-CA) algorithm of near-optimal performance to SCO given the same amount of CSI. Through computer simulations, we show that SDA-EP and SCO-CA outperform conventional NOMA and OMA schemes in the presence of partial CSI over a wide range of service scenarios