System and method for scalable digital communications with adaptive system parameters

A network device comprising:

• a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions;
• and
• a processor in communication with the non-transitory memory storage, wherein the processor executes the instructions to:
• transmit, to a user equipment (UE), first information about at least one parameter indicating a first multiple access mode out of a plurality of multiple access modes, for a first contention-based uplink transmission between the network device and the UE, the at least one parameter including a number of nonzero elements in a signature or a codebook;
• and
• transmit, to the UE, second information about the at least one parameter indicating a second multiple access mode out of the plurality of multiple access modes, for a second contention-based uplink transmission between the network device and the UE, the second multiple access mode being a sparse code multiple access mode having a larger spreading factor than the first multiple access mode, the larger spreading factor being configured to support a larger number of contention-based users.

A network device comprising:

• a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions;
• and
• a processor in communication with the non-transitory memory storage, wherein the processor executes the instructions to:
• select a first multiple access mode out of a plurality of multiple access modes for a first contention-based uplink transmission between the network device and a user equipment (UE), wherein the plurality of multiple access modes includes at least the first multiple access mode and a second multiple access mode, the second multiple access mode being a sparse code multiple access mode having a larger spreading factor than the first multiple access mode, the larger spreading factor being configured to support a larger number of contention-based users;
• and
• transmit information about the first multiple access mode to the UE, the information including at least a number of nonzero elements in a signature or a codebook.

A user equipment (UE) comprising:

• a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions;
• and
• a processor in communication with the non-transitory memory storage, wherein the processor executes the instructions to:
• receive, from a network device, first information about at least one parameter indicating a first multiple access mode out of a plurality of multiple access modes, for a first contention-based uplink transmission between the UE and the network device, the at least one parameter including a number of nonzero elements in a signature or a codebook, and
• receive, from the network device, second information about the at least one parameter indicating a second multiple access mode out of the plurality of multiple access modes, for a second contention-based uplink transmission between the UE and the network device, the second multiple access mode being a sparse code multiple access mode having a larger spreading factor than the first multiple access mode, the larger spreading factor being configured to support a larger number of contention-based users.