A Low-Complexity Power Allocation Scheme for MIMO-NOMA Systems With Imperfect Channel Estimation

This paper considers a two-user downlink multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system using minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) detection under imperfect channel estimation. By taking account of both errors in channel estimation and MMSE detection, we derive approximated users' capacities and design a closed-form power allocation scheme to maximize the minimum (max-min) of them. The design problem is equivalent to max-min optimization of users' signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios (SINRs), and the solution can be obtained by SINR balancing. The proposed power allocation scheme involves solving two quadratic equations, and is easy to implement in practical applications. As compared with an existing robust MIMO-NOMA power allocation method based on generalized singular value decomposition and SINR balancing, the proposed one offers slightly worse bit-error-rate performance with much lower complexity.