NOMA Advances for 6G Mobile Communications

Dear Colleagues,

6G mobile networks will have to cope with the tremendous increase in mobile data traffic from coexisting users and machines. At the same time, services requiring massive connectivity, ultra-reliability and ultra-low latency, as well as enhanced spectral efficiency, accelerate the need for a paradigm shift regarding orthogonal resource allocation. In this context, the expected success of 6G networks will rely not only on traditional communication practices but also on novel communication paradigms, thus deviating from the current trends. Among those paradigms, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) differentiates from traditional orthogonal multiple access (OMA), allowing users and machines to share the same resource (time/frequency/code) and exploit different channel power levels and service rate requirements. NOMA schemes have been proposed in several wireless network topologies, including cooperative networks, device-to-device networks and unmanned-aerial vehicle (UAV)-based networks. Furthermore, as NOMA requires the knowledge of channel state information and rate requirements of users and machines to appropriately perform user pairing and power allocation, low-complexity solutions are needed. In addition, the integration of machine learning in NOMA networks can provide further gains and allow autonomous network operation. 

This Special Issue will bring together recent research efforts and key concepts in the area of NOMA, highlighting its importance within the 6G ecosystem. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Performance analysis of NOMA communication;
• Channel coding and modulation for NOMA;
• Cooperative NOMA;
• Advanced resource allocation for NOMA;
• Interference mitigation in NOMA communication;
• NOMA-aided wireless edge caching and computing;
• NOMA in UAV-based networks;
• NOMA in integrated satellite-terrestrial networks;
• Machine-learning-aided NOMA schemes;
• Low-complexity NOMA operation;
• Full-duplex communication with NOMA;
• Energy-efficient NOMA;
• NOMA in reconfigurable intelligent surface-aided networks;
• Physical-layer security for NOMA communication.

Dr. Nikolaos Nomikos
Guest Editor

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