BER performance analysis of asynchronous NOMA with arbitrary phase offset

An asynchronous transmission scenario for non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) user signals with arbitrary phase offset is investigated in this paper. To improve the system performance in the user power-balanced conditions, we adopt a synthetic detection method at the receiver, i.e., the jointly optimal maximal likelihood detection aided triangular successive interference cancellation (JO ML-TSIC) method. Analytical bit error rate (BER) solutions are obtained for a two-user case with the optimal, intentional one-half symbol period time delay implemented between the user signals. Furthermore, closed-form BER solutions for the case using the triangular successive interference cancellation (TSIC) detection method are also derived for comparisons. Numerical results show that the JO ML-TSIC receiver for the asynchronous system outperforms the TSIC receiver as well as the synchronous successive interference cancellation (SIC) receiver in all the conditions concerned. The results also show that the superiority of the JO ML-TSIC receiver is strengthened when the signals experience flat Rayleigh fading channels compared to the TSIC and the synchronous SIC receivers.