Spectral Efficiency Improvement with 5G Technologies: Results from Field Tests

In order to meet the 5G requirements on spectral efficiency and the number of connections, new multiple access (NMA) is becoming an important technology in 5G. Different from orthogonal multiple access (OMA), NMA technology is tolerant of symbol collisions in orthogonal channels, thereby significantly increasing the number of served users. In this paper, a unified framework of NMA is proposed for the next generation radio access networks. The evaluation results of several NMA schemes, such as sparse code multiple access (SCMA), pattern division multiple access (PDMA) and interleaver-grid multiple access (IGMA), are given. And the results show that NMA can obtain significant block error rate (BLER) performance gain, compared with orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA).

Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) has been recently proposed for the future wireless networks, which allows non-orthogonal spectrum resource sharing and enables system overloading. In this paper, we apply SCMA into device-to-device (D2D) communication and cellular hybrid network, targeting at using the overload feature of SCMA to support massive device connectivity and expand network capacity. Particularly, we develop a stochastic geometry based framework to model and analyze SCMA, considering underlaid and overlaid mode. Based on the results, we analytically compare SCMA with orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) using area spectral efficiency (ASE) and quantify closed-form ASE gain of SCMA over OFDMA. Notably, it is shown that system ASE can be significantly improved using SCMA and the ASE gain scales linearly with the SCMA codeword dimension. Besides, we endow D2D users with an activated probability to balance cross-tier interference in the underlaid mode and derive the optimal activated probability. Meanwhile, we study resource allocation in the overlaid mode and obtain the optimal codebook allocation rule. It is interestingly found that the optimal SCMA codebook allocation rule is independent of cellular network parameters when cellular users are densely deployed. The results are helpful in the implementation of SCMA in the hybrid system.

In 4G systems, Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) has been used conventionally for multiple access purposes. This technique has low spectral efficiency since it allocates the resources orthogonally to each user. As an alternative to this technique, Non-orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) has been proposed for new generation systems as it allows different users to use the same resources and therefore, increases spectral efficiency. Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) is a code-based NOMA technique and its performance depends on codebook design. In this study, a conventionally used codebook design in the literature has been considered and the system performance has been improved by increasing the distance between the signal constellation points. Considering two different design approaches, the conventional codebook has been modified and about 1dB gain has been achieved in the high signal-to-noiseratio (SNR) region.

This paper investigates the resource management problem for device-to-device (D2D) underlaying cellular network. In particular, cellular users employ sparse code multiple access (SCMA) while D2D users employ orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). In this system, the cross-tier interference between cellular users and D2D users is highly coupled and if not properly handled, the potentials of the two 5G key enabling technologies (i.e., SCMA and D2D) cannot be fully exploited. To tackle this problem, we first construct an interference graph to depict the cross-tier interference, based on which an efficient resource allocation algorithm is devised to well coordinate the interference. Then, we propose an easily implemented iterative power control scheme to optimize the transmit power of all users. Finally, simulation results exhibit the performance gain of our algorithms as compared with other schemes.

As an important port technology in mobile communication, multiple access can effectively improve the number of user access in the communication system. However, the Orthogonal Multiple Access (OMA) technology has been unable to meet the higher requirements of spectrum efficiency and system capacity in the future, so it is of great practical significance to study and design a new multiple access technology. Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA), as a new non-orthogonal multiple Access (NOMA) scheme, improves the number of user access and spectrum utilization by superposition of multi-user information on the same time-frequency resource. And it can well adapt to all kinds of new application scenarios in 5G. This paper introduces SCMA technology from four aspects: basic principle, system model, key technology and its combination with other systems.

New non‐orthogonal multiple access technology is proposed with the development of 5G, which is expected to support higher spectrum efficiency and massive terminal access, it enables the communication system to achieve better bit error rate performance and alleviate the spectrum congestion problem effectively under limited resources. With the design of spectrum sharing for radar and communication getting more attention, 5G non‐orthogonal signal has become potential passive radar illumination source. In this article, an orthogonal multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radar waveform design metric by minimising the integration sidelobe level, is introduced firstly. Then based on sparse code multiple access (SCMA) technology, the non‐orthogonal waveform is designed as the passive radar illumination sources. The distance and Doppler resolution of non‐orthogonal waveform are evaluated by a more generalised MIMO ambiguity function. Simulation results demonstrate that non‐orthogonal SCMA signals have competitive performance with orthogonal code division multiple access signals.

Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is a promising non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme for massive machine-type communications for 5G-and-beyond communication systems. Innovative use of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with index modulation (OFDM-IM) takes advantage of using tone indices in data transmission. In this study, we propose a novel multiplexing and multiple access scheme, namely SCMA based on OFDM-IM (SCMA-IM). SCMA-IM method can be implemented in uplink NOMA systems in an efficient way with similar computational complexity as SCMA. In this method constellation differences and diversity are obtained via SCMA codebooks (CBs) and the employment of CBs is transferred to index modulation (IM). Performance improvement is achieved via CBs so that the number of data bits carried by indices increases more than one bit with different constellations, and also with the number of CBs assigned. In order to determine the indices used in IM, the receiver structure is simplified by the message passing algorithm and log-likelihood ratio detection process used in SCMA receivers without indexing the receiver. Thus, a new NOMA scheme is obtained by coding with IM. Bit error rate performance of the system is studied for 150% and 200% overloading factors.

In this paper, downlink joint user association, codebook assignment and power allocation for a Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA)‐based in Cloud Radio Access Network (C‐RAN) are investigated. The main aim of this paper is to accomplish a resource allocation to achieve the maximum total sum rate subject to SCMA limitation, total available power in Radio Remote Head (RRH), fronthaul constraint, users association, user power constraint, and Quality of Service requirements for each user with low complexity. To solve the recommended problem an iterative algorithm considering Successive Convex Approximation is utilized. The main problem is separated into two subproblems of joint user association and codebook assignment and power allocation. By defining a new binary variable for user association and codebook assignment and a new constraint for the user association, the joint user association and codebook assignment subproblem becomes an Integer Linear Programming. Then user association and codebook assignment subproblem solved with the help of the CVX toolbox and MOSEK solver. Furthermore, to solve the power allocation subproblem, Successive Convex Approximation with Low Complexity is applied. Then the power allocation subproblem solved by subgradient method for the Lagrange dual problem. In the simulation results, the effectiveness of the recommended optimization algorithm and resource allocation method are shown and compared to Non‐Orthogonal Multiple Access and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access.

This paper is focused on code-domain non-orthogonal multiple access (CD-NOMA), which is an emerging paradigm to support massive connectivity for future machine-type wireless networks. We take a comparative approach to study two types of overloaded CD-NOMA, i.e., sparse code multiple access (SCMA) and dense code multiple access (DCMA), which are distinctive from each other in terms of their codebooks having sparsity or not. By analysing their individual diversity orders (DO) in Rayleigh fading channels, it is found that DCMA can be designed with the aid of generalized sphere decoder (i.e., a nonlinear multiuser detector) to enjoy full DO which is equal to the maximum number of resource nodes in the system. This is in contrast to SCMA whose error rate suffers from limited DO equal to the codebook sparsity (i.e., the effective number of resource nodes occupied by each user). We conduct theoretical analysis for the codebook design criteria and propose to use generalized sphere decoder for DCMA detection. We numerically evaluate two types of multiple access schemes under “ 4×6” (i.e., six users communicate over four subcarriers) and “ 5×10” NOMA settings and reveal that DCMA gives rise to significantly improved error rate performance in Rayleigh fading channels, whilst having decoding complexity comparable to that of SCMA.

Recently, sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is proposed as one of the important candidacies for the fifth generation (5G) radio access technique. SCMA is a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technique which allows multiple users share the same radio resource and thus increase spectral efficiency largely. In SCMA, a set of binary coded bits is mapped directly into a complex vector by use of a predefined multi-dimensional codebook. The sparsity of the codewords makes the near-optimal detection feasible through iterative message passing algorithm (MPA). The pursuit of higher spectral efficiency motivates us to study the performance of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) SCMA system in this paper. Simulation results show that compared with the conventional MIMO-OFDM system, MIMO-SCMA can provide a gain up to 50% in data throughput with the aid of MPA technique.

Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) has been recognized as a promising candidate technique for fifth generation (5G) cellular network to improve spectral efficiency (SE). In this paper, physical layer security (PLS) in a downlink single-input single-output (SISO) SCMA system is investigated, which includes one base station (BS), multiple legitimate users and one eavesdropper. The aim of this paper is to maximize the ergodic secrecy sum rate (ESSR) of the SCMA system under the constraint of the transmit power of BS. A novel many-to-many two-side matching algorithm is then proposed. After a limited number of iterations, the algorithm converges to a pair-stable matching. Finally, simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the random scheme and the orthogonal multiple access (OMA) scheme.

Nonorthogonal multiple access technology has been proposed for use in 5G communications systems. In particular, the sparse code multiple access (SCMA) scheme is believed to be one of the most promising techniques among the various nonorthogonal approaches that have been investigated. In this letter, we focus on reducing the complexity of SCMA decoding and we propose a Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) based SCMA decoder. Benefiting from the linearly increasing complexity of the MCMC method, the proposed SCMA decoder has only 10% of the computational load compared to previous state-of-the-art methods when the codebook size is 64. Consequently, the MCMC SCMA decoder has great potential for use in practical system implementations.

OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) is a well-known multicarrier modulation technique that allows high-rate data transmissions over multipath broadband wireless channels. By usingOFDM, a high-rate data stream is split into a number of lower-rate streams that are simultaneously transmitted on different orthogonal subcarriers. Thus, the broadband channel is decomposed into a set of parallel frequency-flat subchannels; each one corresponding to an OFDM subcarrier. In a single user scenario, if the channel state is known at the transmitter, the system performance can be enhanced by adapting the power and data rates over each subcarrier. For example, the transmitter can allocate more transmit power and higher data rates to the subcarriers with better channels. By doing this, the total throughput can be significantly increased. In a multiuser scenario, different subcarriers can be allocated to different users, which constitutes an orthogonal multiple access method known as OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access). OFDMA is one of the principal multiple access schemes for broadband wireless multiuser systems. It has being proposed for use in several broadband multiuser wireless standards like IEEE 802.20 (MBWA: http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/20/), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX: http://www.ieee802.org/16/, 2011) and 3GPP-LTE (http://www.3gpp.org/). This chapter focuses on the OFDMA broadcast channel (also known as downlink channel), since this is typically where high data rates and reliability is needed in broadband wireless multiuser systems. In OFDMA downlink transmission, each subchannel is assigned to one user at most, allowing simultaneous orthogonal transmission to several users. Once a subchannel is assigned to a user, the transmitter allocates a fraction of the total available power as well as a modulation and coding (data rate). If the channel state is known at the transmitter, the system performance can be significantly enhanced by allocating the available resources (subchannels, transmit power and data rates) intelligently according to the users’ channels. The allocation of these resources determines the quality of service (QoS) provided by the system to each user. Since different users experience different channels, this scheme does not only exploit the frequency diversity of the channel, but also the inherent multiuser diversity of the system. In multiuser transmission schemes, like OFDMA, the information-theoretic system performance is usually characterized by the capacity region. It is defined as the set of rates 6

As a promising multiple access technique for 5G wireless networks, sparse code multiple access (SCMA) has been put forward to support massive connectivity and enhance network performance. In this paper, we develop a theoretical framework using stochastic geometry to evaluate the performance of SCMA ad hoc networks. Under this framework, we first derive an explicit matrix form for the successful transmission probability. We then consider two area spectral efficiency (ASE) maximization problems without and with link reliability constraint to investigate the ASE gain of SCMA over OFDMA networks and the tradeoff between the ASE and link reliability, respectively. In particular, we obtain the optimal medium access probability (MAP) to solve both problems. Both numerical and simulation results exhibit that, compared to OFDMA networks, an asymptotically 160% gain in the ASE and a nearly 91% improvement in the transmission opportunity can be achieved by SCMA networks with typical settings.

Next-generation optical access networks are envisioned to evolve into a converged, high-speed, multiservice platform supporting residential, business, mobile backhaul, and special purpose applications. Moreover, bandwidth demand projections suggest that terabit aggregate capacity may need to be reached in such next-generation passive optical networks (PON). To satisfy these requirements while leveraging the large investments made in existing fiber plants, a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM)-based long-reach PON architecture combined with a multiple access technology that features a passive last-mile split, large per-λ speeds, and statistical bandwidth multiplexing can be exploited. In this paper, the first terabit PON based on hybrid WDM orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technology is proposed and experimentally verified. To enable high-speed, long-reach transmission with simplified optical network unit (ONU)-side digital signal processing, multiband OFDMA with ONU-side sub-band selectivity is proposed. Design challenges and tradeoffs between analog and digital domain sub-band combining and selection are also discussed. Finally, the experimental setup and results of the first 1.2 Tb/s (1 Tb/s after overhead) symmetric WDM-OFDMA-PON over 90 km straight single-mode fiber and 1:32 passive split, featuring multiband OFDMA, digitally selective ONUs, and a coherent-receiver OLT are presented and analyzed. By supporting up to 800 ONUs with 1.25/10 Gb/s guaranteed/peak rates and exhibiting a record rate-distance product achieved in long-reach PON, the demonstrated architecture may be viewed as promising for future converged terabit optical metro/access.