Uplink Rate Splitting Multiple Access with Imperfect Channel State Information and Interference Cancellation

TL;DR

This paper analyzes uplink rate splitting multiple access (RSMA) performance under practical imperfections like imperfect channel state information and interference cancellation, providing insights into its advantages over NOMA.

Contribution

It derives closed-form expressions for outage probability and throughput in uplink RSMA considering real-world imperfections, and compares its performance with NOMA.

Findings

Imperfect CSIR impacts performance more at low transmit power.

As power increases, SIC imperfections become more significant.

RSMA offers more robust performance than NOMA under practical conditions.

Abstract

This article investigates the performance of uplink rate splitting multiple access (RSMA) in a two-user scenario, addressing an under-explored domain compared to its downlink counterpart. With the increasing demand for uplink communication in applications like the Internet-of-Things, it is essential to account for practical imperfections, such as inaccuracies in channel state information at the receiver (CSIR) and limitations in successive interference cancellation (SIC), to provide realistic assessments of system performance. Specifically, we derive closed-form expressions for the outage probability, throughput, and asymptotic outage behavior of uplink users, considering imperfect CSIR and SIC. We validate the accuracy of these derived expressions using Monte Carlo simulations. Our findings reveal that at low transmit power levels, imperfect CSIR significantly affects system performance more severely than SIC imperfections. However, as the transmit power increases, the impact of imperfect CSIR diminishes, while the influence of SIC imperfections becomes more pronounced. Moreover, we highlight the impact of the rate allocation factor on user performance. Finally, our comparison with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) highlights the outage performance trade-offs between RSMA and NOMA. RSMA proves to be more effective in managing imperfect CSIR and enhances performance through strategic message splitting, resulting in more robust communication.