Full-duplex relay non-orthogonal multiple access networks with short-packet communication: Block error rate and average achievable rate analysis

This paper considers the effectiveness of short packet communication (SPC) in a full-duplex (FD) relay system with a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme. We use mathematical methods to derive the block error rate (BLER) and average achievable rate (AAR) of the proposed system in which residual-self interference (RSI) and imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC) are taken into consideration. We optimize the power allocation coefficient to minimize the average BLER and investigate the influence of factors such as block-length, transmission bits, RSI, and imperfect SIC on system performance. We enhance the BLER and AAR by employing maximum-ratio combining (MRC) and maximum-ratio transmission (MRT) with multiple antennas at the source and destinations. The results indicate that using a multi-antenna for the considered NOMA FD relay system can achieve the criteria of ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC). It also demonstrates the superiority of NOMA over conventional orthogonal multiple access (OMA) schemes and FD over half duplex (HD) schemes. The system exhibits an exceptionally low average BLER. Our analytical frameworks are validated by simulation results, providing valuable insights for optimizing the power allocation coefficients to minimize BLER in the proposed system. © 2024 Elsevier Inc.