Load Coupling and Energy Optimization in Multi-Cell and Multi-Carrier NOMA Networks

• In this paper, we investigate energy optimization in multi-cell and multi-carrier non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) networks. We apply a load-coupling model for NOMA networks to capture the coupling relation of mutual interference among cells. With this analytical tool, we formulate an energy minimization problem in a NOMA-based load-coupled system, where optimizing load-rate-power allocation, and determining decoding order and user grouping are the key aspects. Theoretically, we prove that the minimum consumed energy can be achieved by using all the time-frequency resources in each cell to deliver users' demand, and allowing all the users to share resource units. From a practical perspective, we consider three types of NOMA grouping schemes, i.e., all-user grouping, partitioned and non-partitioned grouping. We develop tailored solutions for each grouping scheme to enable efficient load-rate-power optimization. These three algorithmic components are embedded into a power-adjustment framework to provide energy-efficient solutions for NOMA networks. Numerical results demonstrate promising energy-saving gains of NOMA over orthogonal multiple access in large-scale cellular networks, in particular for high-demand and resource-limited scenarios. The results also show fast convergence of the proposed algorithms and demonstrate the effectiveness of the solutions.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Kommunikationssystem (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Communication Systems (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Signalbehandling (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Signal Processing (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)

load coupling

resource allocation

energy minimization

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)