Enhancing data rate and energy efficiency of NOMA systems using reconfigurable intelligent surfaces for millimeter-wave communications

In this article, we employ reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) to aid a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system utilizing millimeter-wave (mmWave) communications. Different to recent works on the RIS-supported NOMA systems where the certain carrier frequency was often normalized (fc=1 Hz), we analyze specific impacts of high carrier frequencies in the mmWave band (fc≥30 GHz) on the performance of the RIS-supported NOMA system. In particular, we derive the exact expressions of achievable data rate (ADR) and energy efficiency (EE) of the RIS-supported NOMA system using mmWave band (RIS-mmWave-NOMA system). We compare the ADR and EE of the RIS-mmWave-NOMA system with those of mmWave-NOMA system without RIS, where there are only source-user channels. Numerical illustrations clarify the benefits of utilizing RIS as well as the great impacts of high fc in mmWave band on the ADR and EE of the RIS-mmWave-NOMA system. More specifically, when fc increases from 50 to 100 GHz, the transmit power of source should be increased 8 dBm to achieve the same ADR. Meanwhile, the maximal EE with fc=100 GHz is greatly lower than the maximal EE with fc=50 GHz even though higher transmit power is used. In other words, when fc increases, higher transmit power can be used for the ADR aims but this method cannot be used for EE purposes. In these circumstances, utilizing a larger number of reflecting elements (REs) in the RIS is a good method. By using N≥200 REs, the ADR and EE of the RIS-mmWave-NOMA system are significantly higher than those of mmWave-NOMA system without RIS. Finally, we confirm the exactness of the derived formulas through Monte-Carlo simulations. © 2024 Elsevier Inc.