Fifth generation (5G) wireless networks face various challenges in order to support large-scale heterogeneous traffic and users, therefore new modulation and multiple access (MA) schemes are being developed to meet the changing demands. As this research space is ever increasing, it becomes more important to analyze the various approaches, therefore, in this paper we present a comprehensive overview of the most promising modulation and MA schemes for 5G networks. Unlike other surreys of 5G networks, this paper focuses on multiplexing techniques, including modulation techniques in orthogonal MA (OMA) and various types of non-OMA (NOMA) techniques. Specifically, we first introduce different types of modulation schemes, potential for OMA, and compare their performance in terms of spectral efficiency, out-of-band leakage, and bit-error rate. We then pay close attention to various types of NOMA candidates, including power-domain NOMA, code-domain NOMA, and NOMA multiplexing in multiple domains. From this exploration, we can identify the opportunities and challenges that will have the most significant impacts on modulation and MA designs for 5G networks.

Modulation and Multiple Access for 5G Networks

Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is a class of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) that is proposed to support uplink machine-type communication services. In an SCMA system, designing multidimensional constellation plays an important role in the performance of the system. Since the behavior of multidimensional constellations highly depends on the type of the channel, it is crucial to employ a constellation that is suitable for a certain application. In this paper, we first highlight and review the key performance indicators (KPIs) of multidimensional constellations that should be considered in their design process for various channel scenarios. We then provide a survey on the known multidimensional constellations in the context of SCMA systems with their design criteria. The performance of some of those constellations are evaluated for uncoded, high-rate, and low-rate LTE turbo-coded SCMA systems under different channel conditions through extensive simulations. All turbo-coded comparisons are performed for bit-interleaved coded modulation, with a concatenated detection and decoding scheme. Simulation results confirm that multidimensional constellations that satisfy KPIs of a certain channel scenario outperform others. Moreover, the bit error rate performance of uncoded systems, and the performance of the coded systems are coupled to their bit-labeling. The performance of the systems also remarkably depends on the behavior of the multiuser detector at different signal-to-noise ratio regions.

Multidimensional Constellations for Uplink SCMA Systems—A Comparative Study

In this paper, a novel codebook design method for sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is proposed and an analytical framework to evaluate the bit error rate (BER) performance is developed. In particular, to meet the codebook design criteria based on the pairwise error probability, a novel codebook with large minimum Euclidean distance employing the star quadrature amplitude modulation signal constellations is designed. In addition, with the aid of the phase distribution of the presented SCMA constellations, BER of SCMA system over downlink Rayleigh fading channel is obtained in closed-form expression. The simulation and analytical results show that the presented SCMA codebook outperforms the existing codebooks and low-density signature, and the proposed design is more efficient for the SCMA codebook with large size and/or high dimension. Moreover, the derived theoretical BER results match well the simulation results, especially in the high signal-to-noise ratio regimes.

Design and Analysis of SCMA Codebook Based on Star-QAM Signaling Constellations

Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is a promising uplink multiple access technique that can achieve superior spectral efficiency, provided that multidimensional codebooks are carefully designed. In this letter, we investigate the multiuser codebook design for SCMA systems over Rayleigh fading channels. The criterion of the proposed design is derived from the cutoff rate analysis of the equivalent multiple-input multiple-output system. Furthermore, new codebooks with signal-space diversity are suggested, while simulations show that this criterion is efficient in developing codebooks with substantial performance improvement, compared with the existing ones.

/pdf/on-the-design-of-multiuser-codebooks-for-uplink-scma-systems-40ig36392l.pdf

On the Design of Multiuser Codebooks for Uplink SCMA Systems

Fifth generation (5G) wireless networks face various challenges in order to support large-scale heterogeneous traffic and users, therefore new modulation and multiple access (MA) schemes are being developed to meet the changing demands. As this research space is ever increasing, it becomes more important to analyze the various approaches, therefore in this article we present a comprehensive overview of the most promising modulation and MA schemes for 5G networks. We first introduce the different types of modulation that indicate their potential for orthogonal multiple access (OMA) schemes and compare their performance in terms of spectral efficiency, out-of-band leakage, and bit-error rate. We then pay close attention to various types of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) candidates, including power-domain NOMA, code-domain NOMA, and NOMA multiplexing in multiple domains. From this exploration we can identify the opportunities and challenges that will have significant impact on the design of modulation and MA for 5G networks.

Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is a new non- orthogonal multiple access scheme, which effectively exploits the shaping gain of multi-dimensional codebook. In this paper, a multi-dimensional SCMA (MD-SCMA) codebook design based on constellation rotation and interleaving method is proposed for downlink SCMA systems. In particular, the first dimension of mother constellation is constructed by subset of lattice $\mathbf{Z}^2$. Then the other dimensions are obtained by rotating the first dimension. Further, the interleaving is used for even dimensions to improve the performance in fading channels. In this way, we can design different codebooks for the aim of spectral efficiency or power efficiency. And the simulation results show that the bit error rate (BER) performance of MD-SCMA codebooks outperforms that of the existing SCMA codebooks and low density signature (LDS) in downlink Rayleigh fading channels.

Yingjie Liu

Papers

Multi-Dimensional SCMA Codebook Design Based on Constellation Rotation and Interleaving