A Cooperative NOMA User Pairing in UAV-Based Wireless Networks

NOMA (Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access) is deemed a promising technology for enhancing spectrum efficiency in future cellular net-works. The use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Amplify-and-Forward (AF) relaying as a moving access point or BS, on the other hand, has emerged as a potential solution to high traffic demands in wireless networks. In this paper, we study joint user pairing and resource allocation-based distance to optimize fair throughput in a downlink scenario, with a focus on UAV-aided communication from different wireless powered nodes. Several transmission methods are adopted, including NOMA as well as UAV cooperative relaying along with two representative node-pairing strategies. The simulation results illustrate that the proposed user pairing strategies for cooperative NOMA and UAV-based cellular networks enhance downlink transmission performance and ensure optimum use of power and bandwidth resources.