Cooperative NOMA With Incremental Relaying: Performance Analysis and Optimization

In conventional cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) networks, spectral efficiency loss occurs due to a half-duplex constraint. To address this issue, we propose an incremental cooperative NOMA (ICN) protocol for a two-user downlink network. In particular, this protocol allows the source to adaptively switch between a direct NOMA transmission mode and a cooperative NOMA transmission mode according to a 1-bit feedback from the far user. We analytically prove that the proposed ICN protocol outperforms the conventional cooperative NOMA protocol. In addition, an optimal power allocation strategy at the source is studied to minimize the asymptotic system outage probability. Finally, numerical results validate our theoretical analysis, present insights, and quantify the enhancement achieved over the benchmark scheme.