Study of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Deployment for Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Wireless Communication Networks

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) are two new promising technologies in future generations of wireless communication networks. However, NOMA is particularly picky about the wireless environment and user locations, and in some NOMA–unfriendly situations, it may not work well for NOMA users. In this paper we perform a data-driven study and investigate the possibility to utilize RIS as a tool to provide NOMA users with effective and fair data rate services in wireless communications. Specifically, we investigate what are the best possible deployment locations for RIS, in order to desirably reflect wireless signals to NOMA users in an effective and fair way. We also study and discuss the benefits and limitations of deploying RIS at various locations for NOMA wireless users. We present the analytical system model, explain the data-driven study methodology, and discuss the simulation results. Through our simulation studies we believe the RIS could be a potential candidate to accommodate NOMA wireless users in various settings.