Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) Wireless Systems and Methods

A user equipment (UE), comprising:

• an antenna port configured to couple to at least one antenna, wherein the antenna port is configured to receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission comprising a downlink control information (DCI) message and to receive a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission comprising a first data signal and a second data signal;
• a processor operably coupled to the antenna port and configured to decode the second data signal to obtain a decoded second data signal and to determine, based on the DCI message, whether the PDSCH transmission is an orthogonal multiple access (OMA) transmission or a non-orthogonal multiple access NOMA transmission, wherein, in response to a determination that the PDSCH transmission is the NOMA transmission, the processor is configured to determine whether the DCI message indicates a first reception protocol or a second reception protocol distinct from the first reception protocol;
• and
• an interference cancellation component operably coupled to the antenna port and configured to employ interference cancellation according to at least one of a codeword level or a symbol level,
• wherein, in response to a determination that the DCI message indicates the first reception protocol, the interference cancellation component is configured to employ the interference cancellation to subtract the decoded second data signal from the PDSCH transmission to obtain the first data signal, and the processor is configured to decode the first data signal as a received data signal, and
• wherein, in response to a determination that the DCI message indicates the second reception protocol, the processor is configured to designate the decoded second data signal as the received data signal.

A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause an Evolved NodeB (eNB) to:

• determine a projected first data throughput of an orthogonal multiple access (OMA) protocol and a projected second data throughput of a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) protocol;
• select, based on a comparison between the projected first data throughput and the projected second data throughput, the OMA protocol or the NOMA protocol as a selected protocol;
• determine, in response to selecting the NOMA protocol, a first power allocation ratio for a first UE and a second power allocation ratio for a second UE with a lower signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) than the first UE, wherein the second power allocation ratio is greater than the first power allocation ratio;
• transmit, via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a first data signal associated with the first UE according to a first transmission mode and a second data signal associated with the second UE according to a second transmission mode, wherein, in response to selecting the NOMA protocol, the first data signal and the second data signal are transmitted as a super-imposed signal comprising the first data signal according to the first power allocation ratio and the second data signal according to the second power allocation ratio;
• and
• transmit, via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a first DCI message associated with the first UE and a second DCI message associated with the second UE, wherein the first DCI message and the second DCI message indicate the selected protocol.