Multiple Layer P-NOMA in 5G

The PHY layer presented by 3GPP in Rel-15 as 5G New Radio (NR) has considerably increased the spectrum efficiency of broadband systems, especially, due to the inclusion of Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes. Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) techniques can take efficiency a step further and they are currently considered a promising complementary technology for future releases. This paper addresses this technology and presents a performance evaluation of the use of multiple NOMA layers in 5G networks on a network simulator, which provides a set of new evaluation metrics. The design of the required architecture for introducing multiple layer communications in 5G is presented as the main contribution of the paper. In addition, two 5G use cases have been designed. In one of the cases, an innovative priority-based access communication architecture is proposed. Finally, the use cases are tested in a discrete-event network level simulator and their performance is evaluated in terms of reliability, capacity and latency.