Wireless Personal Communications

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-020-07867-1

Experimental Validation of Non‑Orthogonal Multiple Access

(NOMA) Technique using Software Defined Radio

Bathula Siva Kumar Reddy1

Accepted: 29 October 2020

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020

Abstract
For last few years, the usage of bandwidth is being increased rapidly due to the growth of
advanced applications and services. Therefore, it is required to depend on various multi-
ple access techniques to maximize the spectrum efficiency. Non-orthogonal multiple access
(NOMA) is recognized as a prominent technique to increase the spectrum utilization for
upcoming wireless technologies. In this paper, the experimental validation of NOMA sys-
tem is carried out with the help of software defined radio testbed by considering 4 users
maintaining various distances from the base station. The necessity of successive inter-
ference cancellation (SIC) for NOMA is tested experimentally and results are presented.
Obtained results show that the NOMA system has a better improvement in terms of bit
error rate after applying SIC.

Keywords  GNU radio · NOMA · OFDMA · SDR · USRP

1 Introduction

During the several decades, wireless communication brought a revolutionary changes in

technology such as 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G. In all the generations, especially multiple access
techniques [1–5] played an important role to provide possible best services. Recently,
NOMA has turned in to an essential multiple access technology for 5G to achieve bet-
ter spectral efficiency, massive connectivity for Internet of Technology (IoT), high con-
nectivity density and very less latency [6]. Users share the different resources in multi-
ple access techniques, time in TDMA, frequency in FDMA, code in CDMA, orthogonally
multiplexed frequency in OFDMA, power in power domain NOMA, pattern in pattern
division multiple access (PDMA) [7] and antenna beams in spatial division multiple access
(SDMA) [8] (reuses the same set of cell phone frequencies in a given service area), which
are shown in Fig. 1. FDMA, TDMA, CDMA and OFDMA techniques are employed in 1G,
2G, 3G and 4G technologies, respectively. OFDMA is used as an important technique in
4G technology due to its multi-user diversity and low receiver complexity. In contrast, the

* Bathula Siva Kumar Reddy

bsivakumar100@gmail.com
1
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, CMR Engineering College,
Hyderabad, Telangana 501401, India

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 B. S. K. Reddy

Fig. 1  Multiple access techniques

number of multiple users are reduced and the orthogonality among the users is frequently
disturbed by the channel impairments. Consequently, it became more challenging task to
maintain high spectral efficiency, massive connectivity by using orthogonal multiple access
(OMA) techniques.
Therefore, an innovative concept “NOMA” is proposed where all the users are multi-
plexed orthogonally in power domain [6]. However, the receiver complexity is increased to
separate the users by suppressing the interference. Recently, several NOMA solutions are
proposed and these are classified in to different categories as presented in Fig. 2 [9–12].
Power domain NOMA is implemented in this paper, in which all the users are allotted with
different powers sharing the same frequency/time/code resource such that the spectral effi-
ciency can be increased. Received signal strength is only included in the channel feedback,
so the NOMA does not require the channel state information (CSI). NOMA provides low
latency in the transmission due to the schedule requests from the users unlike in OMA
schemes.

1.1 Power Domain NOMA

In this method, all the users are allotted with different power levels based on their distances
from the base station such as the near user (strong CSI) is with low power and far user
(poor CSI) with high power [13]. All these users are superimposed and transmitted in to
the air. The users’ data in the superimposed signal is decoded at the receiver based on their

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Experimental Validation of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access…

Fig. 2  Classification of multiple access techniques

power level by mitigating the noise successively called successive interference cancellation
(SIC) technique.
Hence, power domain NOMA requires high complexity transmitter and receiver to
avoid the noise completely. Power domain NOMA is more useful for multiple users as they
utilize the same resources. However, the design complexity increases with the number of
users and that results the performance degradation of power domain NOMA. Therefore,
power allocation mechanism is critical to apply power domain NOMA. Sun et  al. [14],
proposed a method by employing power optimization methods to maximize the ergodic
capacity and proved significant performance improvement with NOMA compared to OMA
techniques. Ding et al. [15], proposed a method by detecting and precoding power domain
users to determine the problems raised by MIMO-NOMA system. Cooperative NOMA
supports different time slots for all the users such that the best CSI user acts as a relay for
poor CSI user to improve the transmission rates [16]. In cognitive radio inspired NOMA,
unlicensed user can utilize the resources of licensed user when they are free. The interfer-
ence between them is very small due to their channel conditions, subsequently spectrum
efficiency and energy efficiency can be improved [17].

1.2 Code Domain NOMA

Unlike CDMA, Code domain NOMA uses particular spreading code sequence to isolate
the users by assigning the same frequency/time resource. Code domain NOMA further

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 B. S. K. Reddy

classified in to different categories which are shown in Fig.  2 [18–23]. Message passing
algorithm (MPA) based multiuser detection scheme is employed in Low-density spreading
CDMA (LDS-CDMA), to improve the system performance [18]. In LDS-OFDM, the mul-
tiple subcarriers of OFDM are mapped by the signature matrix parameters unlike the time
samples in CDMA [22]. In Sparse code multiple access (SCMA), the receiver complexity
and spectral efficiency are improved by using the sparse spreading as well as multidimen-
sional constellations [24].

1.3 NOMA Multiplexing in Multiple Domains

Some more multiplexing techniques are proposed in NOMA other than power domain and
code domain, such as PDMA [25], Block based OMA (BOMA) [26], and Lattice parti-
tion multiple access (LPMA) [27]. In PDMA, multiple users are spread by sparse sequence
only like in SCMA, but the number of occupied resource blocks can vary. In BOMA, the
users with poor CSI can be attached with the users with good CSI to increase the system
capacity. In LPMA, the code domains and power domain are combined and several code
levels are allotted to multiplex the users [28, 29].

2 Software Defined Radio

The performance of practical NOMA system is demonstrated by using Software defined

radio (SDR) which is a low cost platform. For the past few decades, many SDR platforms
are developed such as OpenBTS [30], srsLTE (developed by SRS (www.softw​arera​diosy​
stems​.com)) [31] and so on. Software defined radio is a combination of hardware (Uni-
versal software radio peripheral (USRP) N210 [32, 33]) and software (GNU Radio [34])
platform where all most all the hardware components can be implemented in software to
reduce the cost and hardware complexity of the system. The high frequency signal received
by USRP is converted in to low frequency signal and then digitized by passing through
Low noise amplifier (LNA), Filter, Analog to digital converter (ADC), Digital down con-
verter (DDC), Receiver control, Ethernet interface and then to the PC. Various signal pro-
cessing blocks are readily available with GNU Radio and these blocks are used to design
various SDR applications. The processed low pass signal is converted in to analog high
frequency signal by passing through Transmit control, Digital up converter (DUC), Digital
to analog converter (DAC), Filter and Power amplifier (PA) and then given to the USRP to
transmit it in to the air.

3 System Model

In this paper, four users are assumed at the transmitter side maintaining different distances
from the base station as shown in Fig. 3. It is observed that all the four users are sharing the
same bandwidth but different power levels. All the users’ data is added together and trans-
mitted into the air, called as superposition coding (SC) [36, 37]. The low transmit power is
allotted to the strong user (the user near by the base station) and more power is allotted to
the weak user (the user far away from the base station).

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Experimental Validation of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access…

Fig. 3  Transmitter with four users

Therefore, there is a more probability of getting interference (intra-cell interference)

on strong users from weak users, since weak users are allotted with high transmit power.
However, strong users can not affect the weak users, since the transmit power of strong
users is relatively less compared to weak users. The superimposed signal can be defined
as
√ √ √ √
X(n) = P𝛽1 S1 (n) + P𝛽2 S2 (n) + P𝛽3 S3 (n) + P𝛽4 S4 (n) (1)

where β represents a fraction of total power P assigned to user i, maintaining

β1 + β2 + β3 + β4 = 1 and the order of power allocation is determined as β1 < β3 < β3 < β4.
The superimposed signal is decoded at the receiver by using successive interference
cancellation (SIC) process, in which all the incoming users are as per their signal pow-
ers, so that the high power signal is detected and decoded first. This decoded signal is
subtracted from the superimposed signal for the next signal detection and this process is
followed successively for all users as shown in Fig. 4. In SIC process, required signal is
decoded by considering remaining signals as interference.
The base station transmits the same superimposed signal to all the receiving anten-
nas simultaneously over independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) wireless channels,
where these channels are sorted as 0 <|h1|2≤|h2|2≤, |h3|2≤|h4|2. As shown in Fig.  4, high
power signal User 4 is detected and decoded first as it has higher channel gain than other
users and this process is continued to extract all users’ data separately. Mathematically, the
received signal at User Uican be represented as
y i = hi x + w i , (2)
where, yi is the received signal for user Ui, hi is the channel gain for User Ui, x is the
transmitted superimposed signal and wi is the noise imposed on User Ui. For a four user
NOMA, the received signal at each receiving antenna is defined as
√ √ √ √
y = h1 P𝛽1 S1 (n) + h2 P𝛽2 S2 (n) + h3 P𝛽3 S3 (n) + h4 P𝛽4 S4 + w (3)

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 B. S. K. Reddy

Fig. 4  The SIC Receiver

If we assume that the interference is removed completely, the data rate (for User Ui) can
be written as [9]
� 2
�
𝛽i P��hi ��
Ri = log2 1 + 2∑ (4)
P��hi �� Nk=i+1 𝛽k + 𝜎n2

where the data rate depends on various parameters such as the power allocation, channel
gain and the number of users.

4 Results and Discussion

A GNU schematic is drawn as shown in Fig. 5 to implement NOMA transmitter with four
users. It is assumed that User 1 and User 2 are near by the base station where User 3 and
User 4 are far users (see Fig. 3). Therefore, more power is allocated to User 3 (300 units)
and User 4 (400 units), and less power is allotted to User 1 (100 units) and User 2 (200
units). Random sources are considered as input signal form all the users. The users’ data
is encoded by CCSDS (Consultative committee for space data systems) coder and modu-
lated by Quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK). The same modulation is applied to all the
users for better understanding. The encoded and modulated signals for all users are shown
in Figs. 6 and 7 on time sink and constellation sink, respectively. It is observed in Fig. 6
that User 3 and User 4 showed higher amplitude than remaining users due to the more
power allocation for far users. As the power is allotted to the users based on the distances,

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Experimental Validation of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access…

Fig. 5  GNU schematic to implement NOMA transmitter with four users

we can see significant output on constellation, otherwise it is very difficult to identify

the signals (see Fig.  7). All the users’ modulated data is added together by using Add
block and then transmitted over the air using USRPN210 transmitter. The signal constel-
lation before and after transmitting over USRPN210 hardware is captured and presented
in Fig. 8a, b, respectively. It can be observed that the received signal is more erroneous
compared to transmitted signal, since the signal is transmitted in to air where the impact
of noise is more.
The USRPRx receives the signal transmitted by transmitter and then demodulated and
decoded for each user using conventional method as shown in Fig. 9, where successive inter-
ference (SIC) is not applied. Error rate block is used to measure the bit error rate between
original message signal and decoded signal. Bit error rate is calculated for all the users by fol-
lowing the same procedure and obtained results on number sink are shown in Fig. 10. A GNU
schematic is drawn as shown in Fig. 11 for the receiver by applying SIC method where User 2,
User 3 and User 4 data is subtracted from the obtained transmitted signal to get User1 signal.
The same procedure is applied successively to get all the users’ data and BER is obtained for
all the users and shown in Fig. 12. It can be observed from Figs. 10 and 12, that the receiver
with SIC showed better improvement in the BER values compared to without SIC case.

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 B. S. K. Reddy

Fig. 6  The output of modulated signal on Time sink for a User 1 b User 2 c User 3 d User 4

The BER difference between without and with SIC for User 1, User 2, User 3, and User 4 is
0.5955, 0.4515, 0.3805 and 0.271, respectively. It is observed that a significant improvement
between without and with SIC receivers. Therefore, finally it can be concluded that though
the designing complexity is more with successive interference (SIC), it is very much useful to
achieve less bit error rates.

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Experimental Validation of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access…

Fig. 7  The output of modulated signal on Constellation sink for a User 1 b User 2 c User 3 d User 4

Fig. 8  Captured signals on Constellation sink a Transmitted signal by USRPTx b Received signal by USR-
PRx

5 Conclusions

In this paper, NOMA system is implemented and tested experimentally using software
defined radio. Four users are assumed at different distances from the base station and
analyzed the data with and without successive interference cancellation (SIC) technique.

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 B. S. K. Reddy

Fig. 9  GNU schematic drawn for the receiver without applying SIC

Presented results concluded that a significant improvement in bit error rate between
without and with SIC receivers. Therefore it can be concluded that SIC is very much
useful to achieve less bit error rates for future wireless technology though the designing
complexity is more.

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Experimental Validation of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access…

Fig. 10  Obtained BER values for four users without SIC

Fig. 11  GNU schematic drawn for the receiver by applying SIC

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 B. S. K. Reddy

Fig. 12  Obtained BER values for four users by applying SIC

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 B. S. K. Reddy

Bathula Siva Kumar Reddy  is an Associate Professor, Department of

Electronics and Communication Engineering, CMR Engineering Col-
lege, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. He has received B.Tech (Electron-
ics and Communication Engineering) and M.Tech (Very Large Scale
Integrated Circuits Design) degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru Techno-
logical University, Hyderabad (JNTUH), PhD in the field of Wireless
Communications and Networks from National Institute of Technology,
Warangal, India, in 2009, 2012 and 2016, respectively. His area of
research includes Multi Carrier Modulations, OFDM, internet of
Things (IoT), PAPR Reduction techniques, Spectral leakages, Adaptive
Modulation and Coding, Spectrum Sensing, Channel Estimation/
Equalization/Synchronization, 3GPP, WiMAX, LTE, and Software
Defined Radio. He is an IEEE student member, ISTE (Indian Society
for Technical Education) life time member and IDES (Institute of Doc-
tors, Engineers and Scientists).

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