A Hybrid NOMA-OMA Framework for Multi-User Offloading in Mobile Edge Computing System

In recent years, the integration of mobile edge computing (MEC) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has gained significant attention for its potential to reduce energy consumption and offloading latency in future wireless networks. While NOMA can enhance system capacity, accommodating multiple users on the same channel may lead to decoding inaccuracies and reduced offloading accuracy. To tackle these problems, this article proposes a multi-user offloading model that combines NOMA and orthogonal multiple access (NOMA-OMA) to optimize resource allocation. Users are divided into groups based on their geographical locations, with each group further divided into subgroups. OMA is used within each subgroup, while NOMA is employed between different subgroups to achieve joint multi-user offloading. We divide the optimization problem into two sub-problems, namely power and time allocation between different subgroups and delay allocation within the same subgroup. Closed-form expressions for the two sub-problems are derived. The proposed method achieves optimal system energy consumption while increasing the number of users and maintaining low system complexity. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.