On the Performance Evaluation of 5G MIMO Networks employing NOMA via System-Link Level Simulations

In this paper the performance of a proposed non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme in a fifth-generation (5G) multicellular orientation is evaluated. To this end, a hybrid system-link level simulator has been developed, making the performance evaluation of 5G orientations feasible for various radio resource management strategies. In particular, simulations were performed for a two-tier cellular network (i.e., 57 active sectors) and multiple antennas at both transmission ends (multiple input multiple output - MIMO configuration). According to the presented results, considering a $2 \times 2$ MIMO configuration, the total network throughput can be significantly increased when NOMA is employed, without any mean bit error rate (BER) deterioration compared to orthogonal multiple access (OMA) transmission. Importantly, this improvement is achieved with minimum transceiver complexity since the results were derived without employing successive interference cancellation at the receiver side.