On the performance of network NOMA in uplink CoMP systems: A stochastic geometry approach

To improve the system throughput, this paper proposes a network non-orthogonal multiple access (N-NOMA) technique for the uplink coordinated multi-point transmission (CoMP). In the considered scenario, multiple base stations collaborate with each other to serve a single user, referred to as the CoMP user, which is the same as for conventional CoMP. However, unlike conventional CoMP, each base station in N-NOMA opportunistically serves an extra user, referred to as the NOMA user, while serving the CoMP user at the same bandwidth. The CoMP user is typically located far from the base stations, whereas users close to the base stations are scheduled as NOMA users. Hence, the channel conditions of the two kinds of users are very distinctive, which facilitates the implementation of NOMA. Compared to the conventional orthogonal multiple access-based CoMP scheme, where multiple base stations serve a single CoMP user only, the proposed N-NOMA scheme can support larger connectivity by serving the extra NOMA users, and improve the spectral efficiency by avoiding the CoMP user solely occupying the spectrum. A stochastic geometry approach is applied to model the considered N-NOMA scenario as a Poisson cluster process, based on which insightful closed-form or quasi closed-form analytical expressions for outage probabilities and ergodic rates are obtained. Numerical results are presented to show the accuracy of the analytical results and also demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed N-NOMA scheme.