Uplink Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access for Narrowband Machine Type Communication

An apparatus, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:
• configuring one or more user equipment for uplink transmission with one or more uplink time-frequency regions for enhanced machine type communication, wherein the configuring is based on defining and signaling one or more signal thresholds and one or more of a resource assignment, a starting subframe periodicity, a starting subframe offset, a time duration in each period, a demodulation reference signal cyclic shift assignment, orthogonal cover code assignment, or interleaver assignment;
• and
• receiving one or more uplink transmissions from the configured one or more user equipment.