NOMA Wi-Fi Prototype and Optimization

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a technique that allows a transmitter to service numerous receivers using the same time-frequency resources. The transmitter can use superposition coding (SC) to broadcast multiple signals at a time. Receivers use successive interference cancellation (SIC) – a mechanism to isolate its one signal from the superposed one. This concept applies to Wi-Fi as well. Notably, a NOMA Wi-Fi transmitter does not require multiple antennas, unlike other time-frequency reusing techniques.

The NOMA idea is not new: there are many theoretical works dedicated to this topic, especially for 5G cellular networks. However, there is a lack of research of NOMA in Wi-Fi, and particularly the experimental studies. WNL members have made a significant contribution to this area. They have designed and implemented the first-ever NOMA Wi-Fi prototype using software-defined radio USRP 2944R.

The prototype implementation involves both physical layer and medium access control modifications to legacy Wi-Fi. These changes are designed in a way that does not disturb the established work of legacy devices. Moreover, one component of NOMA transmission can be addressed to a legacy Wi-Fi device, like a modern off-the-shelf laptop or smartphone. This backward compatibility of the prototype is a valuable feature for networks, where devices of various generations exist.

WNL has not only implemented NOMA but also improved it with an enhanced superposition mechanism. Symmetrical signal superposition provides a better noise resistance, and it enables using a new proposed signal isolation algorithm – parallel cancellation demapping (PCD). PCD is much quicker than SIC, and it also is easier-to-implement and lacks the main SIC disadvantage – error propagation.

The first version of the prototype was presented at IEEE PIMRC 2018 (the 29th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications).

List of relevant papers:


      2024
    1. Evgeny Khorov, Aleksei Kureev, Ilya Levitsky , Sergei Tutelian. Precoder for Proportional Fair Resource Allocation in Downlink NOMA-MIMO Systems. //Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50482-2_39.
    2. Evgeny Khorov, Aleksei Kureev, Kirill Glinsky, Roman Zlobin. Wi-Fi Receiver with Smoothed Equalization for Reliable Reception of Non-orthogonal Streams. //2024 IEEE International Black Sea Conference on Communications and Networking (BlackSeaCom). – IEEE, 2024. – С. 348-351. https://doi.org/10.1109/BlackSeaCom61746.2024.10646288.

      3. 2023
    3. Evgeny Khorov, Aleksei Kureev, Ilya Levitsky , Sergei Tutelian. Semi-orthogonal Precoder for Improving Throughput and Fairness in Downlink NOMA-MIMO Systems. //International Conference on Distributed Computer and Communication Networks (DCCN), 2023.

      4. 2022
    4. Evgeny Khorov, Aleksei Kureev, Roman Zlobin. Receiver Design and Frame Format for Uplink NOMA in Wi-Fi. //IEEE INFOCOM 2022-IEEE Conference on Computer Communications Workshops (INFOCOM WKSHPS). – IEEE, 2022. – С. 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1109/INFOCOMWKSHPS54753.2022.9797985.
    5. Evgeny Khorov, Aleksei Kureev, Ilya Levitsky , Ian F. Akyildiz. A Phase Noise Resistant Constellation Rotation Method and its Experimental Validation for NOMA Wi-Fi. //IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications. – 2022. – Т. 40. – №. 4. – С. 1346-1354. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSAC.2022.3143236.
    6. Evgeny Khorov, Sergei Tutelian. Joint Usage of OFDMA and NOMA for Uplink Transmissions in Wi-Fi Networks. //Journal of Communications Technology and Electronics. – 2022. – Т. 67. – №. Suppl 2. – С. S222-S232. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064226922140108.

      7. 2021
    7. Evgeny Khorov, Aleksei Kureev, Andrey Lyakhov, Grigory Korolev. Enabling Synchronous Uplink NOMA in Wi-Fi Networks. //2021 International Conference Engineering and Telecommunication (En&T). – IEEE, 2021. – С. 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1109/EnT50460.2021.9681799.

      8. 2020
    8. Evgeny Khorov, Aleksei Kureev, Ilya Levitsky , Ian F. Akyildiz. Prototyping and Experimental Study of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access in Wi-Fi Networks. IEEE Networks, 2020. (Pioneering prototype).
    9. Evgeny Khorov, Aleksei Kureev, Ilya Levitsky , Ian F. Akyildiz. Prototyping NOMA Constellation Rotation in Wi-Fi. In proc. of INFOCOM 2020, Virtual Conference, 6-9 July, 2020.