Uplink Nonorthogonal Multiple Access Technologies Toward 5G: A Survey

Owing to the superior performance in spectral efficiency, connectivity, and flexibility, nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is recognized as the promising access protocol and is now undergoing the standardization process in 5G. Specifically, dozens of NOMA schemes have been proposed and discussed as the candidate multiple access technologies for the future radio access networks. This paper aims to make a comprehensive overview about the promising NOMA schemes. First of all, we analyze the state-of-the-art NOMA schemes by comparing the operations applied at the transmitter. Typical multiuser detection algorithms corresponding to these NOMA schemes are then introduced. Next, we focus on grant-free NOMA, which incorporates the NOMA techniques with uplink uncoordinated access and is expected to address the massive connectivity requirement of 5G. We present the motivation of applying grant-free NOMA, as well as the typical grant-free NOMA schemes and the detection techniques. In addition, this paper discusses the implementation issues of NOMA for practical deployment. Finally, we envision the future research challenges deduced from the recently proposed NOMA technologies.