5G NOMA user grouping using discrete particle swarm optimization approach

Abstract

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technology meets the increasing demand for high-seed cellular networks such as 5G by offering more users to be accommodated at once in accessing the cellular and wireless network. Moreover, the current demand of cellular networks for enhanced user fairness, greater spectrum efficiency and improved sum capacity further increase the need for NOMA improvement. However, the incurred interference in implementing NOMA user grouping constitutes one of the major barriers in achieving high throughput in NOMA systems. Therefore, this paper presents a computationally lower user grouping approach based on discrete particle swarm intelligence in finding the best user-pairing for 5G NOMA networks and beyond. A discrete particle swarm optimization (DPSO) algorithm is designed and proposed as a promising scheme in performing the user-grouping mechanism. The performance of this proposed approach is measured and demonstrated to have comparable result against the existing state-of-the art approach.