Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access for Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Relay-Aided/Cell-Free Networks

Author

Yikai Li, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

6-1-2021

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Baduge, Gayan

Abstract

The recent developments in Internet-of-Things (IoT) and the next-generation wireless communication systems (5G and beyond) are posing unprecedented demands for massive connectivity, enhanced spectrum efficiency, and strengthened reliability. Moreover, the conventional orthogonal multiple access (OMA) techniques have approached their fundamental limits or the improvements in performance are marginal. To this end, a paradigm-shift from OMA to massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technology is proposed. The proposed techniques are capable of serving multiple spatially-distributed user nodes/IoTs in the same frequency-time resource block by reaping out the benefits of power-domain NOMA, and favorable propagation and channel hardening brought by very large antenna arrays.First, a comprehensively literature survey has been conducted. Next, system, channel and signal models were developed by considering practical transmission impairments of the proposed massive MIMO NOMA. Then, novel NOMA relaying strategies via massive MIMO with pilot designs, per-hop and cascaded channel estimation, statistical-parameter based power allocation policy, and reliable precoding scheme are designed. Then, a complete analytical framework to derive the fundamental performance metrics is developed. A MATLAB-based simulation framework is developed to verify the proposed system designs.Then, the detrimental effects of residual interference caused by intra-cluster pilot sharing and error propagation caused by imperfect successive interference cancellation are quantified. The results acquired can provide insights for refining the proposed techniques in terms of signal model and pilot design.Trade-offs among massive connectivity and spectral efficiency will be established and refined for the proposed relay aided/cell-free massive MIMO NOMA via carefully designing per-hop and cascaded channel estimation, low-complexity statistical-parameter-based power allocation, and conjugate precoding schemes. The proposed technique is expected to significantly outperform the conventional OMA scheme in all overloaded system scenarios by virtue of the proposed aggressive spatial multiplexing and power-domain NOMA techniques. Hence, the proposed technique can simultaneously serve many users with fast data rates than that of the existing OMA techniques. The proposed NOMA techniques are expected to provide higher spectral and energy efficiencies with ultra-low end-to-end latency than those of existing OMA. Thus, the proposed relay-aided/cell-free massive MIMO NOMA can significantly contribute as a novel candidate technology for the next-generation wireless standards.