Meta Distribution for Downlink NOMA in Cellular Networks with 3GPP-Inspired User Ranking

This paper presents the meta distribution analysis of the downlink two-user non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in cellular networks. We propose a novel user ranking technique wherein the users from the cell center (CC) and cell edge (CE) regions are paired for the non-orthogonal transmission. Inspired by how users are partitioned in 3GPP cellular models, the CC and CE users are characterized based on the mean powers received from the serving and the dominant interfering BSs. We demonstrate that the proposed technique ranks users in an accurate order with distinct link qualities, which is imperative for the performance of NOMA system. The exact moments of the meta distributions for the CC and CE users under NOMA and orthogonal multiple access (OMA) are derived. In addition, we provide tight beta distribution approximations for the meta distributions and exact expressions of the mean local delays and the cell throughputs for the NOMA and OMA cases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive analysis of NOMA using stochastic geometry with 3GPP-inspired user ranking scheme that depends upon both of the link qualities from the serving and dominant interfering BSs.