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Multiple Access Techniques

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5G and Beyond

Abstract

Multiple access is an essential physical-layer technique in wireless communication networks that allows multiple mobile users to access the network simultaneously. Driven by the upsurge of devices expected in 6G and beyond, future wireless communication networks are foreseen to operate in dynamic regimes ranging from underloaded (where the number of scheduled devices is smaller than the number of transmit antennas on each access point) to overloaded (where the number of scheduled devices is larger than the number of transmit antennas on each access point). Besides, each transmitter is required to simultaneously serve devices with heterogeneous capabilities, deployments, as well as qualities of channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) since the devices for 5G and beyond tend to be more diverse including low-end units such as Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-type communications (MTC)-type devices and high-end equipment such as smartphones with varied user deployments and applications. The resulting requirements for massive connectivity, high throughput, as well as quality of service (QoS) heterogeneity have recently sparked interests in redesigning multiple access techniques for the downlink of communication systems. This chapter first reviews the state-of-the-art multiple access techniques including their benefits and limitations, followed by introducing the promising multiple access candidate, rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) for 6G and beyond, and a comprehensive comparison among all multiple access techniques. The challenges and future trends of using RSMA will be summarized in the end.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The DoF, also known as spatial multiplexing gain, characterizes the number of interference-free streams that can be transmitted or equivalently the pre-log factor of the rate at high SNR.

  2. 2.

    In the sequel, power-domain NOMA will be referred to simply by NOMA.

  3. 3.

    Note that it is not necessary to let all users split their messages in some cases. For example, when maximizing the sum rate without QoS rate constraint [30], one user splits its message into common and private parts which is sufficient. However, splitting the messages of all users is more general, and it becomes necessary when user fairness is considered in the design. for instance, when maximizing WSR or max–min fairness or with QoS rate constraint [17, 30, 34].

  4. 4.

    Please notice that the role of the common stream here is fundamentally different from a multicast stream, though both of them are decoded by all users. The common stream in RS encapsulates parts of private messages of different users. It is not entirely required by all users. In contrast, a multicast stream is encoded by a message originally intended for all users. Each user requires the full message [4].

  5. 5.

    The decoding order of s c and s k can be further optimized. We here follow the rule that the data stream intended for more users has a higher decoding priority [63, 64] for the entire RSMA framework.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Communication and Signal Processing Group, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Yijie Mao & Bruno Clerckx

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  1. Yijie Mao
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    Xingqin Lin

  2. Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, Korea (Republic of)

    Namyoon Lee

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Mao, Y., Clerckx, B. (2021). Multiple Access Techniques. In: Lin, X., Lee, N. (eds) 5G and Beyond. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58197-8_3

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