Exploiting Index Modulation for Enhanced NOMA

Abstract

In the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with index modulation (OFDM-IM) framework, we propose an enhanced non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme called NOMA with informative envelope (NOMA-IE) to explore the flexibility of signal envelope. In this scheme, data bits are conveyed by the quantified signal envelope in addition to classic signal constellations. Subcarrier activation patterns of different users are jointly decided by the envelope former at the transmitter. At the receiver, successive interference cancellation (SIC) is employed, and we introduce the envelope detection coefficient to eliminate the detection error floor. Considering binary phase shift keying, we derive the asymptotic bit error rate (BER). Analytical results reveal that the imperfect SIC is the main factor degrading the error performance. Numerical results demonstrate the superiority of the NOMA-IE over the OFDM and OFDM-NOMA.