NOMA Versus OMA in Finite Blocklength Regime: Link-Layer Rate Performance

In this article, we investigate the latency performance of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and orthogonal multiple access (OMA) technologies in finite blocklength regime. In the comparative study, we derive the achievable effective capacity of two-user NOMA and its OMA counterpart under delay quality-of-service constraints. We then obtain closed-form expressions for the achievable effective capacity of the weak and strong users in both scenarios considering transmissions over Rayleigh fading channels. Numerical results are provided. In particular, it is shown that at low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), the OMA user with better channel condition outperforms both NOMA users. We also evaluate the impact of fixed power allocation scheme on the achievable effective capacity of two-user NOMA. The comparative analysis of the total link-layer rate shows that at high SNRs, the total link-layer rate of NOMA with finite blocklength outperforms the one of OMA when the delay exponent is loose.