Emerging cooperative MIMO-NOMA networks combining TAS and SWIPT protocols assisted by an AF-VG relaying protocol with instantaneous amplifying factor maximization

In this study, we examine an emerging Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) network which combines Transmit Antenna Selection (TAS) and Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer (SWIPT) protocols. A pre-coding channels matrix was designed to aid the TAS protocol. We deployed a strong user as a relay to assist a weak user. Three cooperative MIMO-NOMA network scenarios were investigated. In the first scenario, we assumed the relay was deployed with (i) Decode-and-Forward (DF), (ii) Amplify-and-Forward (AF) with Fixed Gain (FG) and (iii) AF with a Variable Gain (VG) protocols to improve system performance over the first scenario. In scenario (iii), we investigated an amplify coefficient based on the maximum of instantaneous CSI and obtained the Outage Probability (OP) in novel closed form. The analytical results showed that although the Base Station (BS) sent information and energy at the same instant, the OP performance at the relay was sufficient due to assistance from multi-antennas and the TAS protocol. However, the OP performance at the user under cooperation with a relay using the AF-VG protocol achieved better system performance than the DF and AF-FG protocols. We proved and verified the analytical results with Monte Carlo simulations.