Novel Many-to-Many NOMA-based Communication Protocols for Vehicular Platoons

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a promising technique for ultra-reliable low-latency communication as it provides higher spectral efficiency and lower latency. In this work, we propose novel many-to-many (M2M) NOMA-based schemes to exchange broadcast, multicast, and unicast messages between cluster heads (CHs) of vehicular platoons. Specifically, we design uplink-M2M-NOMA (UM-NOMA), downlink-M2M-NOMA (DM-NOMA) and joint uplink-downlink-M2M-NOMA (UDM-NOMA) schemes for peer-to-peer vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). We propose a unique clustering design for full-duplex communication that utilizes the high throughput millimeter-wave (mmWave) channels. Furthermore, we investigate jointly optimal CH selection (CHS) and power allocation (PA) to maximize the network sum rate and devise a computationally efficient tailored-greedy algorithm that yields near-optimal performance. We also propose a super-cluster formation protocol to further limit the overhead of successive interference cancellation (SIC). The results reveal that in most of the considered scenarios, the proposed UDM-NOMA scheme outperforms orthogonal multiple access (OMA) in terms of sum rate by up to 50% even when the SIC receiver errors reach 10%.

Beyond Diagonal RIS: Passive Maximum Ratio Transmission and Interference Nulling Enabler

Beyond diagonal reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (BD-RIS) generalizes and goes beyond conventional diagonal reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (D-RIS) by interconnecting elements to generate beyond diagonal scattering matrices, which significantly strengthen the wireless channels. In this work, we use BD-RIS for passive multiuser beamforming in multiuser multiple-input-single-output (MU-MISO) systems. Specifically, we design the scattering matrix of BD-RIS to either maximize the sum received signal power at the users following maximum ratio transmission (MRT), or to nullify the interference at the users following zero forcing (ZF). Furthermore, we investigate uniform/optimized power allocation and ZF precoding at the base station (BS). Numerical results show that BD-RIS improves the interference nulling capability and sum rate with fewer reflecting elements (REs) compared to D-RIS. In addition, at moderate to high signal to noise ratios (SNRs), passive interference nulling reduces the complexity at the BS by relaxing the need for precoding or water-filling power allocation design. Furthermore, the passive MRT with ZF precoding achieves a tight sum rate performance to the joint design considering MU-MISO scenarios with many REs while maintaining low computational complexity and simplifying the channel estimation.