Minimum Variance Maximum Mean Relay Selection Scheme for Cooperative NOMA Networks

Cooperative communication is a key factor in 5G and beyond standards for increasing the quality of service and aids for dense networks. It works in conjugate with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) to increase the connectivity and spectral efficiency. In this paper, a novel minimum variance maximum mean relay selection scheme with fixed power allocation (MVMM-FPA) is proposed for two-stage cooperative NOMA (C-NOMA) networks using decode-and-forward protocol. The outage probability analytical expressions are derived for the MVMM-FPA over Rayleigh fading channel and its performance is observed with the conventional relay selection (RS) schemes. The impact of outage performance on target rate for users and number of relays have been analyzed for the proposed scheme. Monte Carlo simulations are used to corroborate the analytical expressions of outage probability. Simulation results reveal that the MVMM-FPA RS scheme for C-NOMA offers a minimal outage probability than existing max–min RS and orthogonal multiple access schemes without sacrificing the spectral efficiency.