Throughput performance of joint detection in non-orthogonal multiple access schemes

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) makes multiple mobile users share the same frequency band. In a conventional NOMA scheme, a user pair that can be assigned to the same frequency resource is limited, which reduces the amount of capacity improvement possible. This is because a far user demodulates a signal without canceling an underlaid signal for a near user. In addition, semi-orthogonal multiple access (SOMA) modulation has been proposed. This modulation scheme helps to reduce scheduling complexity and demodulation complexity. In this paper, a joint detection scheme is applied to a far user as well as a near user in a NOMA downlink. The joint detection in the far user leads to a more number of user pairs that can be assigned to the same frequency resource through proportional fair scheduling. The total system throughput performance with the joint detection is evaluated with multi-cell system level simulation. Numerical results show that the joint detection in the original NOMA system increases the system throughput more effectively than that with SOMA modulation.