Underpinnings of User-Channel Allocation in Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access for 5G

Abstract: Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a part of 5th generation (5G) communication systems. This article presents the underpinnings and underlying structures of the problem of NOMA user-channel allocation. Unlike the heuristics for NOMA user-channel allocation, the presented results are guaranteed to converge to a solution. In addition, the solutions are stable. Generally, the results apply to any NOMA system. Unlike the orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) resource allocation problem, the core matching is not the solution to NOMA resource allocation. The conditions under which the fix-point NOMA resource allocation is guaranteed to be stable from the viewpoint of both the base station and the NOMA users are described. In addition, relationships of NOMA user-channel resource allocation to game models and subgame perfect Nash equilibria are elucidated.