Enabling Synchronous Uplink NOMA in Wi-Fi Networks

Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) is a promising technology for future Wi-Fi. In uplink NOMA, stations with different channel conditions transmit simultaneously at the same frequency by splitting the signal by power level. Since Wi-Fi uses random access, the implementation of uplink NOMA in Wi- Fi faces many challenges. The paper presents a data transmission mechanism in Wi-Fi networks that enables synchronous uplink NOMA, where multiple stations start data transmission to the access point simultaneously. The developed mechanism can work with the legacy Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) mechanism in Wi-Fi. With simulation, it is shown that the developed mechanism can double the total throughput and geometric mean throughput compared with the legacy EDCA.